Low earth orbit satellite for facilitating enhanced positioning

ABSTRACT

A low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite includes a global positioning receiver configured to receive first signaling from a first plurality of non-LEO navigation satellites of a constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth. An inter-satellite transceiver is configured to send and receive inter-satellite communications with other LEO navigation satellites in a constellation of LEO navigation satellites. At least one processor is configured to execute operational instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform operations that include: determining an orbital position of the LEO satellite based on applying precise point positioning (PPP) correction data to the first signaling, wherein the PPP correction data is received separately from the first signaling; and generating a navigation message based on the orbital position. A navigation signal transmitter is configured to broadcast the navigation message to at least one client device, the navigation message facilitating the at least one client device to determine an enhanced position of the at least one client device based on the navigation message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present U.S. Utility Patent Application claims priority pursuant to35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No.16/804,961, entitled “SATELLITE FOR BROADCASTING HIGH PRECISION DATA”,filed Feb. 28, 2020, which claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/853,398, entitled“BROADCASTING HIGH PRECISION DATA VIA A SATELLITE SYSTEM”, filed May 28,2019, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Applicationfor all purposes.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to satellite systems and moreparticularly to global navigation satellite systems and radiooccultation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a satelliteconstellation system in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating various communicationlinks utilized by a satellite constellation system in accordance withvarious embodiments

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of a satellite in accordance withvarious embodiments;

FIG. 3B is a schematic block diagram of a satellite processing system inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 3C is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 3D is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a satellite constellation systemutilized to perform radio occultation in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 5A is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a stateestimator flow performed by a satellite processing system in accordancewith various embodiments;

FIG. 5B is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a navigationmessage generation flow performed by a satellite processing system inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 5C is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a broadcastflow performed by a satellite processing system in accordance withvarious embodiments;

FIG. 6 is an illustration depicting the process of self-monitoring by asatellite processing system in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 7A is a schematic block diagram of satellites utilized to performneighborhood monitoring in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 7B is an illustration of orbital planes in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 7C is a schematic block diagram of satellites utilized to performneighborhood monitoring in accordance with various embodiments;

FIGS. 8A-8F are schematic block diagrams illustrating utilization ofsatellite constellation system by various client devices in accordancewith various embodiments;

FIG. 9A is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example clientdevice in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 9B is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example clientdevice in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 9C is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 9D is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performingself-monitoring in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 11 is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performingneighborhood-monitoring in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performing stateestimation in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 13A is an illustration of various satellite constellations andantenna beamwidth adjustments in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 13B is an illustration of various antenna beam steering adjustmentsin accordance with various embodiments; and

FIG. 14 is an illustration of GPS reflectometry in accordance withvarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite constellation system100. Satellite constellation system 100 can include a plurality ofsatellites 110, which can be implemented via combination of devotedpurpose-built satellites, purpose built payloads on a standard satellitebus, and/or hosted payloads or services part of another satellitenetwork. These satellite bus and navigation components can make use ofcommercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) components and be compatible with CubeSatand other standard bus architectures. In some embodiments, some or allof the plurality of satellites 110 of satellite constellation system 100orbit in accordance with low earth orbit (LEO), and can be referred toas “LEO satellites”. Alternatively, some or all satellites of the firstsatellite constellation can orbit in accordance with medium earth orbit(MEO), and/or geostationary orbit (GEO). Satellite constellation system100 is operable to provide secure precision location and time transferservices and/or monitoring atmospheric and environmental conditions.

Some or all of the satellites 110 can receive signals 132 from GlobalNavigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites 130 of a GNSSconstellation 120. The signals 132 include for example, a ranging signalcontaining clock information and almanac and ephemeris information thatcan be used for precision positioning, navigation and timing. The GNSSconstellation 120 can be implemented by utilizing one or more of theGlobal Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation, theQuasi-Zenith Satellite System, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System,the Galileo positioning system, the Russian Global Navigation SatelliteSystem (GLONASS) the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System and/orany other satellite constellation utilized for navigation services. Insome embodiments, some or all of the plurality of GNSS satellites 130 ofthe GNSS constellation 120 can orbit in accordance with MEO, and/or someor all of the plurality of GNSS satellites 130 or otherwise can orbit inanother outer orbit from the satellites 110 of the satelliteconstellation system 100. In either case, when the satellites 110 areLEO satellites, the GNSS satellites can be referred to as “non-LEOsatellites”.

Some or all of the satellites 110 can send signals to and/or receivesignals from one or more backhaul satellites 150. Backhaul satellite 150can be implemented by utilizing a satellite in any orbit, such as (LEO),(MEO), and/or (GEO), provided satellite 150 is capable of transmittingand/or receiving data from satellite 110. In some embodiments, abackhaul satellite constellation 140 can include a plurality of backhaulsatellites 150 operable to bidirectionally communicate with satellites110. In various embodiments, one or more backhaul satellites include anatomic clock for transmitting a timing reference in communications tothe satellites 110.

In various embodiments, the one or more backhaul satellites 150 can beselectively implemented via one or more of the satellites 110 that havebeen assigned this functionality, on a dedicated basis, when forexample, the navigation functionality of a satellite 110 has degraded tothe point where it is no long useful to provide secure precisionlocation and time transfer services and/or monitoring atmospheric andenvironmental conditions. Furthermore, one or more satellites 110 can beassigned the role of backhaul satellite based on its status such as itsposition in orbit, current utilization, battery capacity and/or otherstate or condition of the satellite 110 or otherwise, as will bediscussed later, for example, in conjunction with the resourceallocation of FIG. 3B.

The satellite constellation system 100 can be operable to providenavigation services through a space-based broadcast of encrypted and/orunencrypted navigation messages, atmospheric and/or other signal(s)which can include timing data and overlaid data for satelliteidentification and precision positioning and navigation. This data caninclude, but is not limited to, (i) precision orbit and clock data ofboth the precision satellite system and of the GNSS constellation; (ii)atmospheric data, models and/or other atmospheric monitoring data usedfor determining a current weather state, for weather prediction, forcontrol of the satellites 110 and/or for further orbit or clock datacorrection; (iii) cryptographic parameters including encryption keymanagement; (iv) integrity information concerning the backhaulsatellites 150, satellite constellation system 100, the GNSS satellites130 and/or their constellations; and (v) general messages to passinformation (such as state, conditions, health, and other command andcontrol information) between satellites 110 and the ground and/or othertypes of data discussed herein. This data can be derived based on somecombination of measurements from (i) terrestrial monitoring stations;and (ii) GNSS measurements taken by the satellite constellation system100 in-situ. In case (ii), precision orbit data of the GNSS satellitescan be uploaded to the satellite constellation system 100 viaspace-based backhaul communications, reducing the need for ground links,though ground links and intersatellite links can also be used. Thisenables autonomous orbital position and clock determination in orbit.

Alternatively or in addition, the satellite constellation system 100 canbe operable to collect atmospheric data by means of radio occultation(RO) through some combination of GNSS and other signals of opportunityincluding some broadcast by satellites 110 of the satelliteconstellation system 100 themselves. Higher broadcast power than GNSSutilized by the satellite constellation system 100 allows for deeperpenetration into the atmosphere that enable processing to yield higherfidelity ionospheric and tropospheric models both in terms of spatialand temporal updates. These high density models can serve multiplepurposes such as (i) data for weather prediction models on the ground orin situ in the satellite 110; and (ii) the construction of local,regional and/or global ionospheric and tropospheric corrections for usein precision navigation both by the satellite constellation system 100and by standard GNSS. The raw or processed data can be transmitted backfrom the ground to the satellite constellation system 100 by somecombination of ground stations or space-based backhaul communications.

The GNSS satellites 130 can provide signals to satellites 110 for GNSSRadio Occultation for use in atmospheric monitoring, mapping and otheratmospheric data generation. These measurements can, in turn, be sent tothe ground through a combination of communication links, as discussed infurther detail in conjunction with FIG. 2 . Through this connection withthe ground, precise orbits and clocks of the GNSS satellites 130 can beuploaded to the satellite constellation system 100. This orbit and clockdata can used along with measurements from GNSS, other correction data,sensors onboard, and/or other information to autonomously perform orbitand clock determination onboard satellite 110. Atmospheric models can begenerated indicating signal delays in the ionosphere and troposphereand/or indicating weather data including a current weather state, apredictive weather model or other atmospheric data, can be broadcastalong with precision orbit and clock data for use in precisionnavigation on Earth, included in backhaul and/or inter-satellitecommunication and used by the satellites 110 to further enhance thedetermination of their orbital position. The atmospheric data caninclude corrections created on the ground as part of the data productsproduced as part of atmospheric monitoring. Alternatively or inaddition, these atmospheric data and corrections can be createdautonomously by one or more satellites in situ, where data is sharedbetween satellites in the satellite constellation system 100, and where,for example, edge computing on board one or more satellites 110 is usedto create local, regional or global atmospheric and/or weather models.

At least one client device 160 can include a receiver configured toreceive the signals transmitted by at least one satellite 110. Thereceiver can be configured to receive the signals directly from thesatellites 110, and/or can be configured to receive this informationfrom ground stations, server systems, and/or via a wired and/or wirelessnetwork. The client device 160 can include at least one memory thatstores operational instructions for execution by at least one processorof the client device 160, enabling the client device 160 to processsignals transmitted by the satellites 110 to extract the atmosphericmodels, precision orbit data, clock data, and/or other data from thesignals. The client device 160 can be operable to process the signalsand/or this data to compute its precise position (i.e. an “enhancedposition” with greater accurate when compared with ordinary positioningprovided by the GNSS system) and/or a precise time. This preciseposition and/or precise time can be further processed by client device160 and/or can be otherwise utilized by the client device 160 forpositioning, navigation and/or timing and/or otherwise to perform itsfunctionality in conjunction with one or more of a range of applicationsdiscussed herein. A client device 160 can be operable to display, via adisplay device of the client device some or all of the atmosphericmodels, precision orbit data, and/or clock data received from the leastone satellite 110 for review by a user of the client device 160.

Alternatively or in addition, this precise position and/or other datagenerated utilizing the signals received from satellites 110 can betransmitted, via a transmitter of the client device 160, to a serversystem or other computing device, for example via network 250. Forexample, this server system and/or other computing device can beassociated with an entity responsible for tracking of client device 160and/or responsible for monitoring secure performance of client device160. Thus, storing, processing, and/or display of this informationreceived from one or multiple client devices 160 can be facilitated bythe server system and/or other computing device, for example, via itsown at least one processor and/or at least one memory.

Client devices 160 can include, can be implemented within, and/or can beotherwise utilized by devices on the ground, devices near the earth'ssurface, devices within the atmosphere, and/or other space-basedsystems. Client devices 160 can include, can be implemented within,and/or can be otherwise utilized by mobile devices, cellular devices,wearable devices, autonomous or highly automated vehicles or othervehicles such as cars, planes, helicopters, boats, unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs), fixed devices installed upon or within infrastructure,and/or other computing devices operable to receive and/or utilize theatmospheric models, precision orbit data, and/or clock data.

The LEO satellite 110 provides a reduced distance to earth, which,combined with the greater signal power compared with GNSS, providesclient devices 160 with much stronger signals. The reduced orbitalperiod of the LEO further provides faster signal convergence. The LEOsatellite 110 includes many additional technological improvements andadvantages including many functions, features and combinations thereofas described further herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates embodiments of the communication of various data viasatellite constellation system 100. As part of satellite constellationsystem 100's task of generating a precision navigation signal and/orenvironmental monitoring, data can be transferred between the groundstations 200 and/or 201 and the satellites 110, between satellites 110in satellite constellation system 100 and other satellites in space,and/or between any combination of entities capable of receiving ortransmitting data of interest to satellite 110 as part of satelliteconstellation system 100.

This transfer can be facilitated via a plurality of nodes of thesatellite constellation system 100. As used herein, nodes of thesatellite constellation system 100 can correspond to any devices thatgenerates, receives, transmits, modifies, stores, and/or relays messagesor other data communicated by satellite constellation system 100 asdiscussed herein. Nodes of satellite constellation system 100 caninclude one or more satellites 110; one or more ground stations 200and/or 201; one or more backhaul satellites 150; and/or one or moreclient devices operable to utilize information included in messages inits operation and/or operable to display information included inmessages to a user.

The data communicated between nodes of the satellite constellationsystem 100 can be comprised of many different message types, including,but not limited to: navigation messages containing data to enable thedetermination of a precise position by an end user device or end usersystem; precise point positioning (PPP) correction messages containingprecise orbit and clock data of GNSS satellites and/or other satellitesin satellite constellation system 100; atmospheric correction messagescontaining temperature, humidity, and/or other atmospheric parametersthat affect the precision of the navigation signal that can be correctedfor; command and control messages containing command and controlinformation for the physical direction and/or attitude of the satellite,satellite state management, and/or enabling and/or disabling differenttransmissions of satellite 110; measurement messages containing groundbased and/or external space-based measurements that can augment thenavigation filter (as part of the orbit determination module); statusmessages containing information about satellite 110's signal health,battery usage, power generation, memory usage and/or other informationproviding status information; cryptographic messages containinginformation providing encryption key updates along with any generalencryption scheme updates; constellation monitoring messages containGNSS satellite and/or constellation health information, estimatedperformance of each satellite and/or each constellation, and/or otherinformation related to other GNSS satellites and/or constellations;and/or other messages containing information that can be transmitted toand/or from satellite 110 intended for users, ground segment, othersatellites in the constellation, or any other desired start and/or endpoint for the communication.

Some or all of these message types can be included in the datatransmitted as illustrated in FIG. 2 . Some or all of these messagetypes can be transmitted by satellite 110 and/or received by satellite110, and/or can be generated onboard satellite 110 and/or can begenerated by another entity, for example on the ground and/or receivedby a ground station 200 and/or 201, for example, via network 250.

The data can be transmitted and/or received over any one of these links,or any combination of these links, in an encrypted and/or unencryptedmanner, and/or in any combination of encrypted and/or unencryptedmanner. The encryption can be performed at the message level, where oneor more individual messages are encrypted, for example, separately.Alternatively or in addition, the encryption can be performed at thedata stream level, where the data stream that includes one or moremessages of the same or different type is encrypted. In someembodiments, all of the messages can be encrypted. Alternatively, someor all of the messages are not encrypted. A message can be transmittedand/or received over a combination of links (e.g. from aninter-satellite link to the backhaul) and can change encryption state asit goes from one node in the communication chain to another. Encryptingthe data transmitted by the satellite constellation system 100 allowsmore control over who can receive the necessary data for making radiooccultation (RO) measurements and precision navigation, enabling thelicensing of the usage of the data. In addition to encrypting the dataitself, the spreading code of the navigation signal that is used forranging can also be encrypted. This further allows controlling access tothe information transmitted by satellite constellation system 100.

The data, which can comprise of any combination of the various messages,can be transmitted along any combination of links, for example, asillustrated in FIG. 2 , between any combination of nodes of thesatellite constellation system 100. These links can include differenttypes of links, such as backhauls, inter-satellite links 230, and/ornavigation signals 240.

As used herein, backhaul communications correspond to a link betweensatellite 110 and backhaul satellite 150, and/or a link betweensatellite 110 and ground station 200. The backhaul communications can becomprised of a transmit and/or receive component on each of the nodes.Communication from satellite 110 intended to be received to satellite150, to ground station 200, and/or to ground station 201 throughsatellite 150, shown through backhaul downlink 210, is termed thedownlink portion of the backhaul. The uplink portion, depicted asbackhaul uplink 220 in FIG. 2 , is the communication originating fromground station 200, and/or from ground station 201 through satellite 150intended to be received by at least one of satellite 110 withinsatellite constellation system 100.

Backhaul downlink 210 can be designated to communicate one or moreparticular types of messages. Backhaul downlink 210 can communicateinformation such as RO measurement data, navigation message information,status information about each of the satellites, requested command andcontrol of other satellites in satellite constellation system 100,and/or other information to be sent from the satellite in satelliteconstellation system 100 to another satellite or to the ground.

Backhaul uplink 220 can be designated to communicate one or moreparticular types of messages. Backhaul uplink 220 can communicateinformation such as PPP correction data, atmospheric map data, groundbase measurements for the on-board filtering, command and control data,navigation message data of other satellites in satellite constellationsystem 100, and/or other information to be sent to the satellites insatellite constellation system 100 either from the ground or fromanother satellite.

Inter-satellite link 230 corresponds to a link between two or moresatellites 110 within satellite constellation system 100. Theseinter-satellite links can be omni-directional links such that thetransmission is one-to-many, dedicated links between satellite pairs indifferent orbital planes, and/or dedicated links between satellitespairs within the same orbital plane. A single satellite 110 can becapable of transmitting and/or receiving from any combination of thesetypes of inter-satellite links. These inter-satellite links can eitherbe dedicated data links or can be the data that is modulated onto theranging signal if the ranging signal is being broadcast by the satelliteat the full 180+ degree beamwidth of the satellite 110.

The inter-satellite links can contain any information to be sent betweensatellites or from one satellite with a backhaul connection to anothersatellite without a backhaul connection or from one satellite without abackhaul connection to another satellite with a backhaul, or the sameprocess through multiple satellites. This can either be on top of and/orcombined with the ranging signal, or can be a dedicated signal sent, forexample by dedicated transceivers operating at differing frequencies.

Navigation signal 240 is the signal transmitted from satellite 110containing at least a ranging signal, but can also contain other datacorresponding to one or more of the various types of messages or otherdata discussed herein. Navigation signal 240 can be a one-to-manybroadcast transmission, and any satellite 110, ground station 200,ground station 201, and/or satellite 150 can be equipped to receive thenavigation signal.

Any data transmitted and/or received by satellite 110 can travel throughany single set of links (e.g. backhaul only) and/or through anycombination of links (e.g. backhaul to inter-satellite link). Any datacan also be transmitted through any number of the nodes (station orsatellite) in the communication chain for the purpose of being receivedby a specific node in the communication chain. In some embodiments, datasuch as correction messages can be sent from the ground to one or moresatellite 110 via one or more of the following means:

-   -   Data can be transmitted from at least one ground station 200        directly to every satellite 110 on orbit    -   Data can be transmitted from at least one ground station 200 to        a subset of satellites (e.g. one in each orbital plane) and then        across “along-links” through inter-satellite communication in        the orbital plane with relatively low latency and without any        stringent pointing requirements. “Along-links” inter-satellite        links (either radio or optical) between a satellite and the        satellite ahead and/or behind it in the orbital plane (an        orientation where the angle between those satellites should        remain fairly static). These “along-links” in orbit can be        maintained through different flight procedures such as changes        in the yaw angles needed in order to maintain solar panel        orientation with respect to the sun by using omni-directional        transceivers of the “along-link” data or steerable transceivers.        In an example configuration where the orbital planes are polar        orbits, the number of ground stations needed can be minimized by        placing the ground stations at high latitudes, where it can        “see” satellites from multiple planes simultaneously.        Additionally, for this example configuration, the sequence of        placing satellites in the orbital planes as satellite        constellation system 100 is grown can be optimized to ensure        that these “along-links” are used optimally.    -   Data can be transmitted from at least one ground station 200        and/or ground station 201 to at least one relay satellite 150 in        orbits. These relay satellites 150 include communication        satellites in GEO, in MEO, and/or in LEO. Satellites 110 can        then receive the data from at least one satellite 150 that        retransmits the data received from ground station 200 and/or        ground station 201 to satellite 110.    -   For communication between satellites 110 in satellite        constellation system 100, a dedicated inter-satellite link can        be used with dedicated transceivers    -   For communication between satellites 110, satellites 110 can add        data messages to the data stream being modulated on the        navigation signal in cases where satellite 110 are capable of        receiving the navigation signal from another satellite 110        within satellite constellation system 100. A satellite can be in        view if it is at a lower altitude than the broadcasting        satellite or if it has line of sight to the satellite's        transmission due to its orbital placement or if the broadcasting        satellite beamwidth is large enough to reach the target        satellite (e.g. 180+ degree beamwidth for neighboring        satellites)

The ground stations 200 and/or 201 can be configured to communicate viaa network 250, via at least one communication interface of the groundstations 200 and/or 201. The network 250 can be implemented by utilizingwired and/or wireless communication network and can include a cellularnetwork, the Internet, and/or one or more local area networks (LAN)and/or wide area networks (WAN). Ground stations 200 and/or 201 can beoperable to transmit and/or receive data from at least one serversystem. The at least one server system can include at least oneprocessor and/or memory and can operable to generate and/or store someor all of the data transmitted and/or received by ground stations 200and/or 201. The at least one server system can be affiliated with anentity responsible for the satellite constellation system 100 and/or canbe affiliated with a different entity, such as a weather service entityand/or navigation entity that generates and/or stores data transmittedand/or received by ground stations 200 and/or 201. Alternatively or inaddition, client devices 160 can be operable to receive data via network250.

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of a satellite in accordance withvarious embodiments. In particular, an example of a satellite 110 ispresented that includes a satellite processing system 300, a satellitepower system 301 and a satellite flight control system 302.

In various embodiments, the satellite power system 301 includes an arrayof solar cells, a battery, a fuel cell or other chemical powergeneration system and/or a power management system that operates, forexample, under control of the satellite processing system 300 to managethe production, storage and use of electrical power in conjunction withthe operation of satellite 110. The satellite flight control systemincludes 302 includes one or more propulsion systems, an attitudecontroller, an inertial stabilizer and/or one or more other devices thatoperate under of the satellite processing system 300 to maintain, manageand otherwise adjust the orbital position and/or orientation of thesatellite 110.

In various embodiments, the satellite processing system 300 includesmemory that stores data, an operating system including several systemutilities, and applications and/or other routines that includeoperational instructions. The satellite processing system 300 furtherincludes one or more processors that are configured to execute theoperational instructions to perform various the functions, features andother operations of the satellite 110 in conjunction with the satellitepower system 301, the satellite flight control system 302, an on-boardclock, one or more sensors, one or more transmitters, receivers and/ortransceivers and one or more other devices.

FIG. 3B presents an embodiment of a satellite processing system 300. Thesame or different satellite processing system 300 can be onboard some orall of the satellites 110, and the functionality of some or all of thesatellites 110 discussed herein can be enabled via satellite processingsystem 300. A bus 390 can be operably couple and/or facilitatecommunication between the various components of the satellite processingsystem 300. While a particular bus configuration is shown, other busconfigurations can likewise be employed.

Satellite processing system 300 can include at least one memory module310 which can be implemented by utilizing at least one memory. Satelliteprocessing system 300 can include at least one processing module 320which can be implemented utilizing one or more processors. The memorymodule 310 can store operational instructions that, when executed by theprocessing module 320, configure the satellite processing system 300 toexecute some or all of the functionality of satellites 110 discussedherein.

In some embodiments, the processing module 320 is utilized to implementa radio occultation module 321 operable to perform some or all of theradio occultation functionality of satellite 110 discussed herein.Alternatively or in addition, the processing module 320 is utilized toimplement an orbit determination module 322 operable to perform some orall of the radio occultation functionality of a satellite 110 asdiscussed herein. Alternatively or in addition, the processing module320 is utilized to implement an orbit determination module 322 operableto perform some or all of the orbit determination functionality of asatellite 110 as discussed herein. Alternatively or in addition, theprocessing module 320 is utilized to implement a navigation messagegeneration module 323 operable to perform some or all of the navigationmessage generating functionality of a satellite 110 as discussed herein.Alternatively or in addition, the processing module 320 is utilized toimplement a message scheduling module 324 operable to perform some orall of the message scheduling functionality of a satellite 110 asdiscussed herein. Alternatively or in addition, the processing module320 is utilized to implement a resource allocation module 325 operableto perform some or all of the resource allocation functionality of asatellite 110 as discussed herein. The memory can store operationalinstructions corresponding to the radio occultation module 321, theorbit determination module 322, the navigation message generation module323, and/or the message scheduling module 324, and when theseoperational instructions are executed by the processing module 320, thesatellite processing system 300 can perform the functionality of theradio occultation module 321, the orbit determination module 322, thenavigation message generation module 323 the message scheduling module324 and/or the resource allocation module 325 respectively.

Satellite processing system 300 can include one or more of sensors,which can include, but are not limited to: at least one star tracker380; at least one inertial measurement unit (IMU) 370; at least one sunsensor 333; at least one earth horizon sensor 334, at least one GNSSreceiver 360 operable to receive navigation signals transmitted by GNSSsatellites 130; at least one clock 365, and/or at least one satellitereceiver 350 operable to receive the navigation signal 240 transmittedby other satellite processing systems 300; and/or any other sensorsoperable to collect other types of measurement data and/or to receivesignals transmitted by other entities. The measurements and/or signalscollected by these sensors can be processed via processing module 320and/or can be stored via memory module 310, for example, in a temporarycache.

In various embodiments, the clock 365 is implemented via a temperaturecompensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), oven-controlled crystaloscillator (OCXO) or other non-atomic clock that, for example, asadjusted and/or stabilized based on a timing signal from an atomic clockcontained in the communications from a backhaul satellite, ground linkor one or more of the GNSS satellites 130. In some embodiments, the sameclock 365 is utilized by both GNSS receiver and the navigation signaltransmitter. This allows the clock portion of the estimated state of thesatellite using GNSS measurements to reflect the clock used to generatethe navigation signal. Alternatively, one or more satellites 110 canimplement the clock 365 via a stable atomic clock. In such a scenario,the non-atomic clock in other satellites 110 can be adjusted and/orstabilized based on a timing signal contained in inter-satellitecommunication from the satellite(s) 110 that contains the atomic clock.

Satellite processing system 300 can include at least one inter-satellitelink transceiver 345 operable to transmit data to and/or receive datafrom one or more other satellite processing systems 300; a backhaultransceiver 340 operable to transmit data to and/or receive data fromthe backhaul satellites 150 and/or ground stations 200 and/or 201;and/or a navigation signal transmitter 330 operable to broadcast and/orotherwise transmit signals 240 including, for example, navigationalsignals including, a ranging signal, GNSS correction data, a navigationmessage and/or other navigational signal, radio occultation data,command and control data and/or data. Data transmitted by the navigationsignal transmitter 330 can be received by one or more backhaulsatellites 150, one or more ground stations 200 and/or 201, one or moresatellite processing systems 300 onboard other satellites 110, and/orone or more client devices 160 which can include, for example, one ormore automobiles, tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, laptop computers,desktop computers, other computers and computer systems, navigationdevices, device location systems, weather systems, marine navigationsystems, rail navigation systems, aircraft, agricultural vehicles,surveying systems, autonomous or highly automated vehicles 331, UAVs332, and/or other client devices 160 as discussed herein.

While a configuration is shown having at least one inter-satellite linktransceiver 345, in the alternative, the navigation signal transmitter330 can be implemented via a transceiver having an fixed antenna beampattern or an antenna beam pattern that can be dynamically adjusted toinclude both a main lobe that is directed toward the earth for thetransmission of navigation signals 240 and one or more sidelobes in thedirection of one or more other satellites. Such a configuration enablesthe inter-satellite communications to be integrated with or otherwisetransmitted and received contemporaneously with the navigation signals240.

In some embodiments, some or all ground stations 200 and/or 201 caninclude some or all of the components of satellite processing system300, and/or can otherwise perform some or all of the functionality ofthe satellite processing system 300 as discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the satellite constellation system 100 can include one ormore ground stations 200 and/or 201 in addition to the plurality ofsatellites 110, where the ground stations 200 and/or 201 serve asadditional nodes communicating in the satellite constellation system 100in the same and/or similar fashion as the plurality of satellites 110 bygenerating, transmitting, receiving, and/or relaying some or all of thesignals and/or data as discussed herein with regards to the satellites110. In this fashion, some or all of ground stations 200 and/or 201 caneffectively serve as a subset of the plurality of satellites 110, theonly distinction being that these ground stations 200 and/or 201 thatmake up this subset of the plurality of satellites 110 are located onthe ground and/or are located at a facility on the surface of the earthat a fixed position, while some or all of the remaining ones of theplurality of satellites 110 are orbiting in LEO.

Alternatively or in addition, at least one backhaul satellite 150 cansimilarly include some or all of the components of satellite processingsystem 300, and/or can otherwise perform some or all of thefunctionality of a satellite processing system 300 as discussed herein.In such embodiments, the satellite constellation system 100 can includeone or more backhaul satellites 150 in addition to the plurality ofsatellites 110, where the backhaul satellites 150 serve as additionalnodes communicating in the satellite constellation system 100 in thesame and/or similar fashion as the plurality of satellites 110 bygenerating, transmitting, receiving, and/or relaying some or all of thesignals and/or data as discussed herein with regards to the satellites110. The at least one backhaul satellite 150 can be considered a subsetof the plurality of satellites 110, with the only distinction being thatthe at least one backhaul satellite 150 is located in a more outer orbitthan LEO and/or than the orbit of the other ones of the plurality ofsatellites 110.

Alternatively or in addition, at least one client device 160 that isoperable to receive and utilize data transmitted by satellites 110 asdiscussed herein can similarly include some or all of the components ofsatellite processing system 300, and/or can otherwise perform some orall of the functionality of a satellite processing system 300 asdiscussed herein. In such embodiments, the satellite constellationsystem 100 can include, in addition to the plurality of satellites 110,one or more mobile computing devices, cellular devices, vehicles, and/orother client devices 160 discussed herein. Thus, some or all of thesetypes of devices can serve as additional nodes communicating in thesatellite constellation system 100 in the same and/or similar fashion asthe plurality of satellites 110 by utilizing their own processingmodule, memory module, receivers, transmitters, and/or sensors togenerate, transmit, receive, and/or relay some or all of the signalsand/or data as discussed herein with regards to the satellites 110. Someor all of these devices can be considered a subset of the plurality ofsatellites 110, with the only distinctions being that these devices areuser devices that include a display and/or interface allowing a user toobserve and/or interact with the data generated by and/or received fromthe satellites 110; that these devices are configured to furtherpost-process received data in conjunction with the functioning of theclient device 160 and/or in conjunction with one of the more of theapplications discussed herein; that these devices are located on or nearthe surface of the earth; and/or that these devices are located ataltitudes that are closer to the surface of the earth than LEO and/orthe other orbit of the other ones of the plurality of satellites 110.

In some embodiments, the ground stations 200 and/or 201, the backhaulsatellite 150, and/or some or all of these client devices 160 canreceive application data associated with the satellite constellationsystem 100 for download. For example, the application data can bedownloaded from a server system associated with the satelliteconstellation system 100 via the network 250. Alternatively or inaddition, the application data can be transmitted, via one or more ofthe links discussed in conjunction with FIG. 2 , to some or all of thesedevices for download via other satellites 110 orbiting in LEO. Theapplication data can thus be received for download by a device fordownload in a signal, received by a receiver of the device, that wasbroadcasted by a satellite 110. The application data can be installedand stored in the memory of the device and can include operationalinstructions that, when executed by the processing module of the device,cause ground stations 200 and/or 201, backhaul satellite 150, and/orclient devices 160 to operate in the same or similar fashion assatellite processing system 300 and/or to otherwise perform some or allof the functionality or other operations of the satellites 110 asdiscussed herein. Alternatively or in addition, some or all groundstations 200 and/or 201, backhaul satellite 150, and/or client devices160 can be equipped with additional hardware to implement some or all ofthe processing module 320, memory module 310, and/or some or all of thesensors, transmitters, receivers, and/or transceivers of satelliteprocessing system 300 of FIG. 3B to enable the device to perform some orall of the functionality of the satellites 110 as discussed herein.

Consider the following example, the processing module 320 is configuredto generate navigation signals 240, such as ranging signals modulatedand coded with navigation messages that contain timing, ephemeris andalmanac data. In addition, the navigation messages can include, forexample, PPP data associated with the satellites 130, command andcontrol data, integrity data associated with satellites 130 and othersatellite 110, RO data, atmospheric or weather data including a currentweather state, a weather map and/or a predictive weather model, secureclock data, encryption and security information, any of the other typesof data produced or transmitted by the satellite 110 in the navigationsignals 240. In various embodiments, the data of the navigation signal240 can be formatted in frames and subframes with a data rates exceedinglkbits/sec, however other data rates can be used. Navigations signalscan be generated in two or more frequency channels at a signal power of50W, 100W or more or at some lower power.

The operations of the processing module 320 can further include, forexample, locking-in on the timing of the ranging signals of the signals132 via the associated pseudo random noise (PRN) codes associated witheach satellite 130 (that is not excluded based on integrity monitoring),demodulating and decoding the ranging signals to generate and extractthe associated navigation messages from the GNSS satellites 130 in rangeof the receiver, applying correction data received via backhaul and/orinter-satellite communications and atmospheric data generated locallyand/or received via backhaul and/or inter-satellite communications tothe position and timing information from the navigation messages fromthe GNSS satellites 130.

In various embodiments, first-order ionospheric delay is mitigated usingthe combinations of dual-frequency GNSS measurements. Otherwise,ionospheric and tropospheric delay can be corrected using atmosphericmodels generated based on the RO data. Furthermore, the processingmodule 320 can use a Kalman filter such as an extended Kalman filter orother estimation technique where orbital position, clock error,ionospheric delay, tropospheric delay and/or carrier-phase errors areestimated filter states. The precise orbital position of the satellite110 can be generated by positioning calculations that employ navigationequations to the corrected orbital positions and timing for each of thesatellites 130.

In various embodiments, the operations of the satellite 110 include, forexample, orbital control, attitude control, power management andcontrol, temperature control, radio occultation, generating and/ormaintaining tropospheric models, ionospheric models, weather models,atmospheric data generation, weather data generation, orbitdetermination, navigation message scheduling, navigation messagegeneration, GPS reflectometry, sensor data collection, sensor dataprocessing, GNSS reception, backhaul transmission and reception,inter-satellite transmission and reception, GNSS satellite integritymonitoring, LEO satellite integrity monitoring, secure timing generationand transmission, memory clean-up, health status monitoring of thecomponents and systems of the satellite 110, receiving updates,processing updates and/or other operations described herein. Theresource allocation module 325 operates to control the variousoperations of the satellite 110 based on reception of command data froma ground station, an amount of memory usage, an amount of processorutilization, the distance between the satellite 110 and a backhaulsatellite 150, other satellites 110 and/or a ground station 200, thebattery level of the satellite 110, when the satellite 110 will be in anorbital position to generate additional power, a fuel status, a healthstatus of the satellite 110, atmospheric data, weather data including acurrent weather state, a predictive weather model and or other status orconditions determined by the satellite processing system 300.

The resource allocation module 325 can also operate to control thevarious operations of the satellite 110 based on the orbital position ofthe satellite 110 relative to positions above the earth corresponding tohigh population density, low population density, an ocean, a rainforest,a mountain range, a desert or other terrestrial condition or feature.The resource allocation module 325 can also operate to control thevarious operations of the satellite 110 based on the orbital position ofthe satellite 110 relative to the orbital positions of one or more othersatellites 110 in the satellite constellation system 100. The resourceallocation module 325 can also operate to control the various operationsof the satellite 110 based on the state of the satellite constellationsystem 100 including, for example the number of satellites 110, thenumber of orbital paths, the number of satellites in each orbital path,the number and positions of satellites 110 that are on-line, off-line,are not currently generating navigation signals and/or navigationmessages and/or other status of the various satellites 110 of thesatellite constellation system 100.

The control of various satellite operations by the resource allocationmodule 325 can include determining when to enable or initiate anoperation, when to disable or cease an operation and/or the percentageof time allocated to each of the operations during a time period such asa second, a minute, an hour, an orbital period, or a day. The control ofvarious satellite operations by the resource allocation module 325 canalso include selecting and assigning memory resources, processingresources, sensor resources, transmitter, receiver and/or transceiverresources, to the various operations selected to be performed. Thecontrol of various satellite operations by the resource allocationmodule 325 can also include selecting memory parameters such as queuesizes, cache sizes, and other memory parameters. The control of varioussatellite operations by the resource allocation module 325 can alsoinclude selecting processing parameters such as one or more processingspeeds, or other processing parameters. The control of various satelliteoperations by the resource allocation module 325 can also includeselecting transmitter, receiver and transceiver parameters, for example,encryption parameters, data protocol parameters, transmit power,transmission beamwidth, reception beamwidth, beam steering parameters,frequencies, the number of channels in use, data rates, modulationtechniques, multiple access techniques, and other transmit and receiveparameters. The control of various satellite operations by the resourceallocation module 325 can also include selecting other parameters usedby the satellite processing system including various thresholds used todetermine whether or not two quantities compare favorably to oneanother.

The operations of the satellite 110 can be described further inconjunction with the examples and embodiments that follow. In variousembodiments, the satellite 110 is a LEO satellite of a constellation 100of LEO navigation satellites in LEO around the earth. A globalpositioning receiver, such as GNSS receiver 360, is configured toreceive first signaling, such as signaling 132 from a first plurality ofnon-LEO navigation satellites, such as satellites 130 of a constellation120 of non-LEO navigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth. Aninter-satellite transceiver, such as inter-satellite link transceiver345, is configured to send and receive inter-satellite communicationswith other LEO navigation satellites 110 in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites. At least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite based on the first signaling; andgenerating a navigation message based on the orbital position. Anavigation signal transmitter, such as navigation signal transmitter330, is configured to broadcast the navigation message to at least oneclient device 160. The navigation message facilitates the determinationby these client device(s) of an enhanced position of these clientdevice(s) based on the navigation message and further based on secondsignaling 132 received from a second plurality of non-LEO navigationsatellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.

In various embodiments the LEO satellite also includes a backhaultransceiver, such as backhaul transceiver 340, configured to receivecorrection data associated with the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites, wherein the determining the orbital position of the LEOsatellite is further based on based the correction data. The backhaultransceiver can be configured to receive the correction data from eithera backhaul communication satellite in geostationary orbit around theearth or a terrestrial transmitter. The operations of the processor(s)can further include:

generating radio occultation data based on the inter-satellitecommunications with at least one of the other LEO navigation satellitesin the constellation of LEO navigation satellites; and transmitting theradio occultation data via the backhaul transceiver. The correction datacan include orbital correction data and timing correction dataassociated with the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites. Thenavigation message can include a timing signal and the orbital positionassociated with the LEO satellite. The navigation message can furtherinclude the orbital correction data and the timing correction dataassociated with the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.

In various embodiments, the LEO satellite further includes a non-atomicclock configured to generate a clock signal, wherein the timing signalis generated by adjusting the clock signal based on the first signalingand further based on the timing correction data. The constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites can be associated with at least one of: aGlobal Positioning System of satellites, a Quasi-Zenith SatelliteSystem, a BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a Galileo positioningsystem, a Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) or anIndian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The navigation message caninclude correction data associated with the constellation of non-LEOnavigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth, wherein the at leastone client device determines the enhanced position of the client deviceby applying the correction data to the second signaling. The navigationmessage can further include a timing signal and the orbital positionassociated with the LEO satellite, wherein the at least one clientdevice determines the enhanced position of the at least one clientdevice further based on the timing signal and the orbital positionassociated with the LEO satellite.

In various embodiments, the inter-satellite communications includecorrection data associated with the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites received via at least one of the other LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of LEO navigation satellites, whereindetermining the orbital position of the LEO satellite is further basedon based the correction data.

The inter-satellite communications can include at least one of:navigation signal 240, the navigation message and/or other state dataneeded to do the state estimation of the satellite 110 sent to at leastone of the other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites; radio occultation; atmospheric data generatedbased on radio occultation; control information associated withsatellite direction; control information associated with satelliteattitude; control information associated with satellite status; controlinformation associated with satellite inter-satellite transmit/receivecondition; command information associated with satellite inter-satellitetransmit/receive status; command information associated withinter-satellite transmit power or frequency; control informationassociated with encryption; constellation integrity information relatingto the health of one or more LEO navigation satellites in theconstellation of LEO navigation satellites; or constellation integrityinformation relating to the health of one or more non-LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.Furthermore, the inter-satellite communications can include one-to-manytransmissions between the LEO satellite and two or more of the other LEOnavigation satellites in the constellation of LEO navigation satellites.

In various embodiments, the first plurality of non-LEO navigationsatellites can include four or more non-LEO navigation satellites of theconstellation of non-LEO navigation satellites that are in receptionrange of the global positioning receiver, however signals 132 from fewernon-LEO satellites can be used when navigation signals 240 are receivedfrom one or more LEO satellites via inter-satellite communications. Thesecond plurality of non-LEO navigation satellites can include three ormore non-LEO navigation satellites of the constellation of non-LEOnavigation satellites that are in reception range of the at least oneclient device, however signals 132 from fewer non-LEO satellites can beused when navigation signals 240 are received from more than one LEOsatellites in reception range of the at least one client device.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite 110 based on the first signaling 132 andthe correction data received via either the backhaul transceiver 340 orthe inter-satellite link transceiver 345 and generating a navigationmessage based on the orbital position. The navigation signal transmitter330 configured to broadcast the navigation message to at least oneclient device 160, the navigation message facilitating the at least oneclient device to determine an enhanced position of the at least oneclient device based on the navigation message.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite based determining, based on the firstsignaling 132, an error condition associated with one of the non-LEOnavigation satellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites; and generating a navigation message based on the orbitalposition, wherein the navigation message includes a timing signal andthe orbital position associated with the LEO satellite, correction dataassociated with the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites, andintegrity monitoring data that includes an alert signal that indicatesthe error condition associated with the one of the non-LEO navigationsatellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites. Thenavigation signal transmitter is configured to broadcast the navigationmessage to at least one client device, the navigation messagefacilitating the client device(s) to determine an enhanced position ofthe at least one client device, based on the navigation message andfurther based on second signaling received from a second plurality ofnon-LEO navigation satellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites in the non-LEO around the earth while excluding signals fromthe one of the non-LEO navigation satellites. Furthermore, the satellite110 itself can exclude signals from the one of the non-LEO navigationsatellites when calculating its orbital position.

The alert signal and/or integrity monitoring data that indicates theerror condition associated with the one of the non-LEO navigationsatellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites canalso be shared with the other LEO satellites 110 and/or one or moreground stations via inter-satellite and/or backhaul communications. Thisallows the other satellites 110 to exclude signals from the one of thenon-LEO navigation satellites when calculating their orbital position.This also allows the other satellites 110 to include integritymonitoring data indicating the faulty satellite in their own navigationmessages.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite based on the first signaling; determining,based on the inter-satellite communications, an error conditionassociated with one of the other LEO navigation satellites of theconstellation of LEO navigation satellites; and generating a navigationmessage based on the orbital position, wherein the navigation messageincludes a timing signal and the orbital position associated with theLEO satellite, correction data associated with the constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites, and an alert signal that indicates theerror condition associated with one of the other LEO navigationsatellites of the constellation of LEO navigation satellites. Thenavigation signal transmitter is configured to broadcast the navigationmessage to at least one client device, the navigation messagefacilitating the at least one client device to determine an enhancedposition of the at least one client device, while excluding signals fromthe one of the other LEO navigation satellites, for example, based onthe navigation message and further based on second signaling receivedfrom a second plurality of non-LEO navigation satellites of theconstellation of non-LEO navigation satellites in the non-LEO around theearth.

The alert signal and/or integrity monitoring data that indicates theerror condition associated with the one of the LEO satellites of theconstellation of LEO satellites can also be shared with the other LEOsatellites 110 and/or one or more ground stations via inter-satelliteand/or backhaul communications. This allows the other satellites 110 toinclude integrity monitoring data indicating the faulty satellite intheir own navigation messages. It should be noted that, while theforegoing integrity monitoring operation have been described as beingperformed by the satellite 110 in-situ, in other embodiments, integritymonitoring activities involving the detection of faulty LEO or non-LEOsatellites can instead be performed by one or more ground stations andthe resulting integrity monitoring data can be shared with thesatellites 110 via a combination of backhaul and inter-satellitecommunication. Furthermore, the function of integrity monitoringinvolving the detection of faulty LEO or non-LEO satellites can beassigned to a particular satellite 110 on a dedicated basis that is nottasked with, configured for and/or capable of, the generation ofnavigation signals 240.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining a firstorbital position of the LEO satellite at a first current time based onthe first signaling; generating a plurality of first orbital positionestimates of the LEO satellite for a plurality of first subsequent timesassociated within a first time window from the first current time;generating, based on a curve fitting technique, a first navigationmessage indicating the first orbital position at the first current timeand the first plurality of orbital position estimates of the LEOsatellite for the first plurality of subsequent times; broadcasting, viathe navigation signal transmitter, the first navigation message to atleast one client device; determining a second orbital position of theLEO satellite at a second current time based on the first signaling, thesecond current time corresponding to one of the first plurality ofsubsequent times associated with the first time window and the secondcurrent time corresponding to one of the first plurality of orbitalposition estimates; generating an error metric based a differencebetween the first orbital position of the LEO satellite at the secondcurrent time and the corresponding one of the first plurality of orbitalposition estimates. When the error metric compares unfavorable to anerror threshold: generating, based on the curve fitting technique, asecond plurality of updated orbital position estimates of the LEOsatellite for a second plurality of subsequent times associated from thesecond current time; generating a second navigation message indicatingthe second orbital position at the second current time and the secondplurality of orbital position estimates of the LEO satellite for thesecond plurality of subsequent times; and broadcasting, via thenavigation signal transmitter, the second navigation message to the atleast one client device. When the first time window expires at a thirdcurrent time without a second navigation message generated: determininga third orbital position of the LEO satellite at the third current timebased on the first signaling; generating, based on the curve fittingtechnique, a third plurality of updated orbital position estimates ofthe LEO satellite for a third plurality of subsequent times associatedwithin a second time window from the third current time; generating athird navigation message indicating the third orbital position at thethird current time and the third plurality of orbital position estimatesof the LEO satellite for the third plurality of subsequent times; andbroadcasting, via the navigation signal transmitter, the thirdnavigation message to the at least one client device.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite based on the first signaling; generating asecond timing signal by adjusting the clock signal based on the firstsignaling and further based on correction data associated with theconstellation of non-LEO navigation satellites; and generating anavigation message based on the orbital position, wherein the navigationmessage includes the second timing signal and the orbital position ofthe LEO satellite and correction data associated with the constellationof non-LEO navigation satellites.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: generating radiooccultation data based on the inter-satellite communications with atleast one of the other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation ofLEO navigation satellites, the radio occultation data indicatingatmospheric conditions associated with the ionosphere and thetroposphere; transmitting the radio occultation data via a backhaultransceiver; receiving correction data associated with the constellationof non-LEO navigation satellites, the correction data generated based inpart on the radio occultation data; determining an orbital position ofthe LEO satellite based on the first signaling and the correction data;and generating a navigation message based on the orbital position.

In various embodiments, at least one processor of the processing module320 is configured to execute operational instructions that cause theprocessor(s) to perform operations that include: determining thetransmit/receive status for the inter-satellite communications betweenthe LEO satellite and at least one other of the plurality of other LEOnavigation satellites in the constellation of LEO navigation satellites.For example, the transmit/receive status for the inter-satellitecommunications between the LEO satellite and at least one other of theplurality of other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites can be determined based on at least one of: amemory usage of the LEO satellite; a memory usage of the at least oneother of the plurality of other LEO navigation satellites; a distancebetween the LEO satellite and a backhaul receiver; a distance betweenthe at least one other of the plurality of other LEO navigationsatellites and the backhaul receiver; a battery level of the LEOsatellite; a different between the battery level of the LEO satelliteand a battery level of the at least one other of the plurality of otherLEO navigation satellites; an estimated time that the LEO satellite cangenerate more power; an estimated time that the at least one other ofthe plurality of other LEO navigation satellites can generate morepower; or atmospheric data that indicates atmospheric conditionsgenerated based on radio occultation.

In various embodiments, the inter-satellite communications include atleast one of: the navigation message sent to at least one of the otherLEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEO navigationsatellites; radio occultation; atmospheric data generated based on radiooccultation; control information associated with satellite direction;control information associated with satellite attitude; controlinformation associated with satellite status; control informationassociated with satellite inter-satellite transmit/receive condition;command information associated with satellite inter-satellitetransmit/receive status; command information associated withinter-satellite transmit power or frequency; control informationassociated with encryption; constellation integrity information relatingto the health of one or more LEO navigation satellites in theconstellation of LEO navigation satellites; or constellation integrityinformation relating to the health of one or more non-LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.

FIG. 3C is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with variousembodiments. In particular, a lower perspective view of a satellite,such as satellite 110, is presented. The satellite body is constructedin a modular fashion of six commercial off-the-shelf units such asCubeSat units or other units that are interconnected. The front face ofthe satellite body 308 includes a first sun sensor 333-1, a firstinter-satellite link transceiver 345-1 and a star tracker 380. Thebottom side of the satellite body 308 includes a first retroreflector332-1, a first backhaul transceiver 340-1 and two navigation signaltransmitters 330, for example, corresponding to two different frequencychannels. The side of the satellite body includes a secondretroreflector 332-2. The top of the satellite body is fitted withdeployable plates 306 that fold out for use in orbit (as shown) tosupport an array of solar cells for powering the satellite.

FIG. 3D is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with variousembodiments. In particular, an upper perspective view of a satellite,such as satellite 110. The rear face of the satellite body 308 includesa second sun sensor 333-2 and a second inter-satellite link transceiver345-2. The top side of the satellite body 308 includes a GPS receiver305, a second backhaul transceiver 340-2 and solar panels 304. Solarpanels 304 are also arranged on the top of the deployable plates 306.The side of the satellite body includes a third retroreflector 332-3.

As discussed herein, components of the satellite processing system 300operate to generate a precise orbital position of the satellite 110. Inaddition to the use of this orbital position in the generation ofnavigation signals 240, this orbital position can be used to determinewhen the satellite 110 needs to be repositioned and to aid in suchrepositioning by use of the satellite flight control system 302.

In various embodiments, the precise orbital position of the satellite110 at a given time is compared with its desired orbital position atthat time to determine the amount of deviation. Furthermore, thepredicted path of the satellite 110 can be compared with the predictedpaths of numerous other space objects including other satellites,spacecraft, space junk and other near-earth objects to predict apotential future collision. Such determinations and predictions can begenerated via a ground station in backhaul communication with thesatellite 110 of via the satellite itself. In either case, the satellite110 can be repositioned to a desired location and orientation using ofthe satellite flight control system 302.

In various embodiments, the satellite flight control system 302 includesa multi-axis propulsion system. In the alternative, the satellite flightcontrol system 302 includes merely a three-axis attitude controller thatis used reposition the satellite 110. Consider the example satelliteconfiguration shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D. Roll, pitch and/or yaw axisvariations in the satellites attitude can cause multi-axis drag forcevectors acting on the satellite body 308 and the deployable plates 306,in particular, that can be used in the repositioning process to vary theorbital path of the satellite 110.

It should be noted that the example shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D present butone of the many possible implementations of the satellite 110.

FIG. 4 presents an example embodiment of a satellite constellationsystem 100 that is implemented to perform atmospheric monitoring viaradio occultation (RO). Radio occultation enables detailed monitoring ofthe Earth's atmosphere, which allows for more accurate weatherforecasting. This is performed by characterizing elements of atransmitted signal as it passes through Earth's atmosphere. Inparticular, each satellite 110 can be operable to observe and/orgenerate RO data based on received signals transmitted by othersatellites 110 and/or GNSS satellites 130, such as navigation signals240 and/or GNSS signals. This RO data includes measurements and/or otherdata that characterizes a portion of the atmosphere that the receivedsignal traversed in its transmission from the other satellite. Asatellite 110's generation of RO data based on received signals, and/ora satellite 110′s transmission of this generated RO data, can beaccomplished by utilizing radio occultation module 321.

RO can be performed using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)signals that are being transmitted from Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) andsubsequently monitored from satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). TheseGNSS signals provide RO information on the upper atmosphere, but due totheir weak signal strength, these GNSS signals are unable to providehigh quality measurements to the lower portions (altitudes) of theatmosphere. Furthermore, the GNSS signals come from a limited number ofMEO satellites. This limitation on number and the relatively sloworbital period of these GNSS satellites 130 naturally constrains therate of change of observation vectors and therefore the amount ofatmosphere being observed. These factors limit both the spatial andtemporal resolution of the atmosphere being monitored.

Satellite constellation system 100 presents improvements to currentatmospheric monitoring techniques. In contrast to existing GNSS-based ROmethods, satellite constellation system 100 can handle the transmissionand/or reception of navigation signals 240 in addition to traditionalGNSS signals received from GNSS satellites 130. The geometry of the lineof sight vector, in this case a line of sight vector being a radio lineof sight such that the receiving end can receive a transmission from thetransmission end, between satellites 110 in a LEO orbit provides aunique geometry that gives rise to uncommon atmospheric cuts that arecapable of providing a deeper understanding of the Earth's atmosphere,as depicted in FIG. 4 . To further atmospheric modeling capabilities,navigation signal 240 is transmitted by satellites 110 in LEO, and canbe delivered at higher power levels than those from MEO. This enablesdeeper penetration of the atmosphere down to the planetary boundarylayer and/or to less than 5 km in altitude, even in heavy moistureconditions. This provides an unprecedented level of detailed informationof all levels of the atmosphere.

Additionally, using LEO satellites for both transmission and receptionin RO results in an unprecedented number of RO events due to the smallerLEO orbital period. This greatly increases the temporal and spatialresolution of atmospheric measurements, resulting in a higher fidelitymodel and in turn a better understanding of its dynamics. Furthermore, aLEO constellation with a high density of satellites, with groups spacedacross different orbital planes will result in sections of theatmosphere between the orbital planes being observed with a very highfrequency (e.g. 10 minutes between observations depending on the spacingin the orbital plane), providing near real time tomography of theatmosphere.

Furthermore, navigation signal 240 of satellite constellation system 100can reside in one or more different frequency bands than GNSS signalsused for RO today, enabling another dimension of atmosphericcharacterization than what is possible today.

The data links (Backhaul uplink 220, downlink 210, inter-satellite link230, and/or navigation signal 240) permit the RO data obtained by thesatellites to be transmitted down to the ground quickly for optimal use.The RO data can include the raw RO measurements observed by eachsatellite 110 and/or can include post-processed data that can, forexample, contain already computed temperature and/or humidity profilesof the atmosphere. For example, satellites 110 can be operable tocompute temperature and/or humidity profiles of the atmosphere based onthe observed RO measurements.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4 , three satellites A, B, and C, arelocated in a LEO orbit, and a single GNSS satellite 130 is located in aMEO orbit. The satellites A, B, and C are each distinct satellites 110of the satellite constellation system 100. The satellites A, B, and Cand the single GNSS satellite 130 are depicted at two different timesteps: t₀ and t₁.

At the first time step, t₀, all three satellites 110 can see, and/or canotherwise be operable to receive, each others' navigation signal 240.Since each satellite 110 is capable of transmitting and/or receivingnavigation signal 240, each of the line of sight vectors, representingan ability to transmit and/or receive navigation signal 240, are shownas two-way vectors. Due to the placement of the satellites 110 in orbitand the properties of navigation signal 240 such as the broadcast power,each of these lines of sight traverse through different layers of theEarth's atmosphere, including layers that are close to the Earth'ssurface. The signal from GNSS satellite 130 can also be used bysatellites A and B at the first time step, t₀, to get informationthrough the uppermost part of the atmosphere. Note that while satelliteC does have a line of sight to GNSS satellite 130, that signal does nottraverse any layers of the atmosphere of interest for monitoring and isunable to produce RO measurements, and is therefore omitted from thefigure.

At the second time step, t₁, which is shortly after the first time step,all three of satellites 110 have moved in their orbit. For this example,the time between t₀ and t₁ is such that GNSS satellite 130 haseffectively not changed location due to the much longer orbital periodof a MEO satellite compared to a LEO satellite. At time step t₁, onceagain all three of the satellites 110 are able to maintain their linesof sight, this time at slightly different locations in the atmosphere,providing new measurement data. Due to the placement of satellites 110in their orbit in this example, only one of the satellites is able touse the signal from GNSS satellite 130 for RO purposes. The line ofsight vector from GNSS satellite 130 and Satellite A no longer goesthrough the atmosphere to create observations and the line of sightvector from GNSS satellite 130 and Satellite C still does not go throughthe atmosphere. Note that while the line of sight vector from GNSSsatellite 130 and Satellite B is maintained, that measurement will bedegraded due to how much atmosphere the signal must traverse. Thisexemplifies one of the drawbacks of RO systems today using existing GNSSsignals unable to constantly provide information as there are some caseswhere the geometry is in such a way that does not allow high quality ROobservations to be made.

Building from this example, considering a typical orbital period for aLEO satellite of 90 minutes, every 90 minutes a LEO satellite willcomplete a full sweep of its trajectory around Earth's atmosphere.Furthermore, with a dense constellation of satellites spread across agiven number of orbital planes, the time between one pair of satellitespassing through a part of the atmosphere and the following pair passingthrough nearly the same region of the atmosphere can be very short (e.g.tens of minutes). Thus, the satellites 110 of the satelliteconstellation system 100 allow for an unprecedented temporal revisit ofregions of the atmosphere that can be used to better predict weather andimprove models. When performing RO with MEO GNSS signals, the geometrychange is much slower since a MEO satellite's orbital period isapproximately 12 hours. Furthermore, the LEO and MEO satellite orbitsare not in sync, which does not guarantee the ability to repeatedly passthrough the same parts of the atmosphere and therefore cannot providethe spatially correlated temporal data that can be provided by thissatellite system.

The raw RO measurements and/or processed data can be processed by one ormore client devices 160 and/or other computing devices that receive theRO data from the satellites 110 and/or from ground station 200 and/or201, for example, via network 250. The processing of this data canenable a range of applications, for example, by various other entitiesthat benefit from improved characterizations and/or profiles of theatmospheric.

One example application of utilizing the received raw RO measurementsand/or processed data includes generating weather forecasting data. Forexample, one or more client devices 160 can process the RO data togenerate forecast models, to improve upon forecast models, and/or togenerate other weather forecasting data.

As another example application, one or more client devices 160 canprocess the RO data to generate ionospheric data, such as ionosphericmappings and/or other data characterizing various portions of theionosphere over time. This can include generating real-time and/orsubstantially close to real-time ionospheric mappings. This can includegenerating models that can be utilized to generate prediction datautilized predict and/or improve upon predictions of future states of theionosphere. This can be utilized to improve performance of other systemsthat transmit through the ionosphere. For example, spaced-basedcommunications systems can utilize the information from this real-timeionospheric mapping and/or other detailed ionospheric maps, and/or canutilize these models to better predict behavior of transmissions throughthe ionosphere and/or to improve performance and efficiency of theirsystems.

As another example application, one or more client devices 160 canprocess the RO data in conjunction with space measurement systems. Inparticular, the scientific measurement of stars and/or signals fromspace can be improved by utilizing ionospheric data generated based onthe RO data. For example, the model can be utilized to predictionospheric mappings at future times, to schedule the running oftelescopes, and/or to otherwise facilitate scheduling and/or adjustmentof measurements of stars and/or signals from space.

As another example application, one or more client devices 160 canprocess the RO data in conjunction with communication constellations,for example that rely on transmitting through the ionosphere. Inparticular, current ionosphere mappings or predicted future ionospheremappings generated based on the received RO data can be utilized to aidin determining power levels that need to be broadcast based on currentionosphere mappings or predicted future ionosphere mappings. This canalso be utilized to determine and/or predict current and/or futurepossible areas of outages, for example, enabling the communicationconstellations to adapt its transmissions accordingly.

As another example application, one or more client devices 160 canprocess the RO data in conjunction with space weather monitoring forearly warning for high value space assets and/or ground infrastructure.

As another example application, one or more client devices 160 canprocess the RO data for improved GNSS, improved performance of satelliteconstellation system 100, and/or improvements for other third-partyusers interested in detailed real-time atmospheric models.

Some or all of these applications of received RO data can alternativelybe facilitated via a processing module 320 of a satellite processingsystem 300 and/or via another processing system affiliated with thesatellite constellation system 100. Models and/or other processed datain conjunction with these applications can be transmitted, for examplevia network 250 and/or directly from a satellite 110, to client devices160 associated with end users of this data, for example, for display tothe end users via a display device. Alternatively or in addition, theclient devices 160 can download application data, for example vianetwork 250, from a server system affiliated with the satelliteconstellation system 100. This application data, when executed by theclient device, can cause the client device 160 to receive and/or processthe RO data in conjunction with one or more of these applications.

The example demonstrated in FIG. 4 depicts each satellite 110transmitting and receiving navigation signal 240. With these two-waylinks, each of the satellites in the link pair is capable of making ROobservations for the same portion of the atmosphere and is capable oflogging the necessary data, for example by generating and/or otherwiseobserving the RO data based on the received navigation signal 240, bytemporarily storing the RO data in memory module 310 in a queue fortransmission, and/or by transmitting the RO data via a backhaul link.Therefore, only one of the satellites need to be in view a groundstation 200, and/or the backhaul satellite 150, or a backhaul node, suchas one of the plurality of nodes of the satellite constellation system100 in the transmission chain of backhaul links to the ground station200 and/or the backhaul satellite 150. The satellite constellationsystem 100 can thus be configured such that only one of the satellitesin a satellite pair transmit the RO data down to users on the ground,either directly or through a space-based satellite backhaulcommunication link, in real time. This allows the use of fewerresources, as only one of the two satellites needs to record thenecessary measurements. To reduce power usage, the satellite system canbe further configured in a such a way that optimizes a set of one waylinks such that only one satellite is transmitting navigation signal 240and one is receiving the navigation signal 240 in a given pair.

As used herein, the satellite in a given pair that is designated tobroadcast navigation signal 240 is designated the “transmittersatellite”, and the other satellite in designated to receive navigationsignal 240 is designated the “receiver satellite.” The transmittersatellite can be configured to broadcast navigation signal 240. Thetransmitter satellite can be further configured to not receivenavigation signal 240 from the other satellites 110, to not generate theRO data based on the navigation signal 240 received from the othersatellites 110, and/or to not transmit the RO data via a backhaul link.The receiver satellite can be configured to receive navigation signal240, to generate corresponding RO data and to transmit this RO data viaa backhaul link. The receiver satellite can be configured to nottransmit its own navigation signal 240. In some embodiments, thesatellite in a given pair that is determined to be best placed fortransmitting the data to ground users (either directly or through aspace-based satellite backhaul communication link) can be selected asthe receiver satellite, and the other satellite in the pair can beselected as the transmitter satellite. This optimization can further beperformed across multiple sets of satellites where a single satellite isconfigured as the transmitter satellite to transmit to multiplesatellites receiving and logging navigation signal 240.

Consider the pair of satellites A and B of FIG. 4 . One of thesatellites in the pair can be designated as the transmitter satellite ata particular time, while the other satellite in the pair is designatedas the receiver satellite at the particular time. Which one of thesatellites is designated as the transmitter satellite vs. the receiversatellite can be set and/or adjusted automatically via an adjustmentprocess. The adjustment process can include determining the pair ofsatellites A and B should swap roles and/or determining the roles of thepair of satellites A and B to be reevaluated for potential swapping, inresponse to detection of a corresponding trigger condition. Theadjustment process can be performed by utilizing processing module 320of satellite A and/or satellite B, enabling the pair of satellitesautomatically determine roles amongst themselves. Alternatively, theadjustment process can be performed by another processing module 320and/or other processing system of the satellite constellation systemthat is not included in the pair, where the roles are determined andreceived as instructions to satellite A and satellite B.

Performing the adjustment process can include determination of one ormore trigger conditions that dictate the current roles should be swappedand/or otherwise be set. Example trigger conditions for automaticsetting and/or adjustment of which satellite in the pair is designatedas the transmitter satellite and which satellite in the pair isdesignated as the receiver satellite in a given pair of satellites 110(Satellite A and Satellite B) include:

-   -   Determining satellite A′s memory usage exceeds a given threshold        such that it must stop recording RO measurements. As a result,        satellite B is designated as the transmitter satellite and        satellite A is designated as the receiver satellite.    -   Determining the distance between satellite A and a backhaul        satellite 150 and/or a ground station 200 is greater than the        distance between satellite B and backhaul satellite 150 and/or        ground station 200 such that Satellite B is in a better position        to record measurements. As a result, satellite B is designated        as the receiver satellite and satellite A is designated as the        transmitter satellite.    -   Determining the battery level of satellite A is below a given        threshold such that it must stop transmitting a navigation        signal. As a result, satellite B is designated as the        transmitter satellite and satellite A is designated as the        receiver satellite.    -   Determining the difference between battery level in satellite A        and satellite B compares in such a way that Satellite A is        determined to have more battery to use and/or is determined to        have a more favorable battery level than satellite B. As a        result, satellite A is designated as the transmitter satellite        and satellite B is designated as the receiver satellite.    -   Determining that the difference between when satellite A will be        able to generate power and when Satellite B will be able to        generate power compares in such a way that satellite A is        determined to be able to generate power sooner. As a result,        satellite A is designated as the transmitter satellite and        satellite B is designated as the receiver satellite.    -   Any other status changes, conditions or states of the individual        satellites 110 or of the satellite constellation system 100 that        may favor one satellite transmitting and/or receiving either in        a paired configuration or in a one-to-many or many-to-one        configuration.

While these trigger conditions illustrate examples between a specificpair of satellites, similar trigger conditions can be determined betweenany number of satellites when a one-to-many or many-to-one architectureis being used. In particular, consider a subset of three or moresatellites 110. Similar trigger conditions can be utilized to determinea single one of the subset of three or more satellites 110 to bedesignated as the transmitter, and/or where a single one of the subsetof three or more satellites 110 to be designated as the receiver. Forexample a single receiver in the subset can be selected in response todetermining this satellite 110 is determined to have the least favorablybattery level of the subset of satellites, in response to determiningthe this satellite has a closest distance to backhaul satellite 150and/or a ground station 200 of the subset of satellites, and/or a mostfavorable transmission path to backhaul satellite 150 and/or a groundstation 200 of the subset of satellites. Alternatively, more than one ofthe subset of three or more satellites can be designated as transmittersatellites and/or receiver satellites. In some embodiments, all of thesubset of three or more satellites 110 are designated as either atransmitter satellite or receiver satellite. Alternatively, at least oneof the subset of three or more satellites can be designated to performthe functionality of both a transmitter satellite and a receiversatellite, and/or can be designated to not perform the functionality ofeither a transmitter satellite or a receiver satellite.

In performing the adjustment process, the automatic determination ofwhich satellite in a pair of satellites and/or in a grouping of three ormore satellites is designated as the receiver satellite requirescommunication between the satellites in the pair and/or grouping torelay status utilized to determine trigger conditions and/or to relaywhich satellite is designated to perform which role. Consider thefollowing steps illustrating an example of performing the adjustmentprocess between a pair of satellites A and B:

-   -   1. Satellite A's memory usage for storing RO measurements        exceeds a given threshold and sends (through any link or        combination of links in FIG. 2 ) a message to satellite B that        it must stop receiving messages and that it is changing into        transmission mode as a transmitter satellite    -   2. Satellite A continues to log RO measurements and enables        transmission of navigation signal (if not already enabled)    -   3. Satellite B can send (through any link or combination of        links in FIG. 2 ) a status message to satellite A confirming        that satellite B is in a mode corresponding to the receiver        satellite and/or is otherwise logging measurements    -   4. Satellite A can receive satellite B's status message and/or        satellite A can detect that satellite B has changed state by        receiving a navigation signal from satellite B (if it was not        already receiving a navigation signal from satellite B)    -   5. Satellite A stops logging RO measurements

A similar process can be performed in response to detection of anothertrigger condition described above. In particular, a satellite candetermine to change its own state in response to detecting its batterylevel, memory capacity, other health status, distance from backhaulsatellite and/or ground station, or other condition independent of othersatellites compares favorably to a corresponding threshold dictating thesatellite must change its state to be a transmitter satellite or areceiver satellite. In response to determining its own condition mustchange, the satellite can alert the other satellite in the pair and/ormultiple satellites in the grouping of the change.

Alternatively or in addition, status information such as battery level,memory capacity, other health status, distance from backhaul satelliteand/or ground station and/or other states and conditions can beexchanged between both satellites in a pair and/or between some or allsatellites in a group, where a single satellite in the pair or groupingcollects its own status information and the corresponding statusinformation from the other one or more satellites in the pair orgrouping, compares this status information and/or measures differencesbetween statuses of the satellites and determines the optimal satelliteto be selected as a transmitter satellite and/or the optimal satelliteto be selected as a receiver satellite based on, for example, thecorresponding trigger conditions. Once the selections have been made bythe single satellite, this satellite can transmit one or morenotifications indicating the assigned roles to the one or more othersatellites in the pair or grouping. If one of the other satellites laterdetermines its own condition must change based on monitoring its ownstatus, the satellite can alert the other satellites in the groupingaccordingly, and this process of collecting status data and reassigningroles by a single satellite can be triggered and repeated.

Alternatively or in addition, the decision for changing of the state canalso be made by a ground monitor that is listening to all the statusmessages and send commands to the given satellites and/or can be made byanother satellite that is not necessarily in the satellite pair but thatcan receive the status messages of the two satellites in the pair. Thisoutside ground monitor and/or other satellite can generate and transmitnotifications to the satellites in the pair or grouping indicating theirnewly assigned roles.

Alternatively or in addition, any of the changes to whether a satelliteis a transmitter satellite and/or a receiver satellite can be performedin real time based on status messages or other command and control dataand/or can be performed based on predetermined positions within theorbit based on known precomputed metrics that are a function of thesatellite's placement within an orbit. For example, it can beprecomputed that a satellite closer to a fixed ground station 200 shouldalways be the receiver in a pair and therefore satellite 110 can bepreconfigured to change to logging RO measurements when within a certainthreshold distance of fixed ground station 200. This can correspond to atrigger condition that can be determined by a satellite monitoring itsown status, where the change in role of the satellite can be relayed tothe other satellites in the pair and/or grouping and can trigger theother satellites in the pair and/or grouping to change their rolesaccordingly.

In some embodiments, the broadcast signal from any satellite 110 in LEOcan be used by any number of other satellites 110 in LEO. While lines ofsight shown in FIG. 4 are representative of satellites 110 receivingeach other's navigation signals, it's important to note that the signalstransmitted are broadcast signals that can be received by any satellite.

Alternatively or in addition to dynamically and automatically beingcapable of changing role from transmitter satellite to receiversatellites, satellites 110 can be similarly operable to automaticallyadjust the transmission of navigation signal 240. Due to the fact thatsatellite constellation system 100 controls navigation signal 240 thatcan be used for RO measurements, the signal design can be dynamic toallow navigation signal 240 to change in cases where atmosphericconditions necessitate it (e.g. changes that make losses greater canresult in a boost in the signal power, or changes that may requirelarger bandwidths can result in adjusting the bandwidth, or evenfrequency). When satellite constellation system 100 controls thebroadcast, satellite constellation system 100 can have a feedback loopbetween the transmission and receiving ends to optimize the transmittedsignal to get the best information possible. That optimization canchange base signal characteristics such as frequency, bandwidth, powerlevels, waveform, and/or other signals characteristics.

The ability to control both the transmission and the receiving sideallows satellite constellation system 100 to be a closed loop RO systemin the sense that satellite constellation system 100 can adjust keytransmit parameters, including but not limited to, frequency, power, andsignal structure, to provide the best transmission for measuringatmospheric properties at the current moment. What is considered besttransmission is a function of the receiving satellite's measurementperformance which can be fed back to the transmitting satellite toadjust the signal parameters through any combination of the links inFIG. 2 . Example signal characteristics of the navigation signal 240that can be adjusted include frequency of the navigation signal;bandwidth of the navigation signal; waveform of the navigation signal;power of the navigation signal; and/or any other parameters that definethe generation of a signal, the transmission of a signal, and/or otherproperties of the signal itself.

The feedback loop process that is utilized to determine when and/or howto adjust these parameters can be performed by utilizing the processingmodule 320 of one or more satellites. An example of this feedback loopprocess includes the following steps:

-   -   1. Satellite A receives signal from Satellite B and computes a        raw measurement from the ranging signal (the raw measurement        includes, but is not limited to, the range to the satellite,        frequency and code offsets, carrier phase, signal receive power,        etc.)    -   2. Satellite A evaluates performance metrics on the raw        measurement (e.g. receive power compared to a desired threshold,        ability to track the signal and compute carrier phase        measurements, etc.) and decides if any threshold is not met    -   3. If thresholds are not met (e.g. receive power is too low)        Satellite A transmits a message, through any combination of        links shown in FIG. 2 , to request a signal characteristic        change from Satellite B (e.g. if receive power is too low, then        request a boost in the signal power)        -   a. Alternatively to sending a request for a signal            characteristic change, Satellite A can transmit the            performance metrics and Satellite B can make the decision            for what to change        -   b. Different performance metrics can be used to control            different signal characteristics, but it does not have to be            a one to one mapping between signal characteristic and            performance metric

As discussed, the satellite constellation system 100 is implemented as aLEO-LEO system due to the transmission and reception of signals betweensatellites 110 in LEO. Implementing satellite constellation system 100as a LEO-LEO system can enable some or all of the functionality and/orimprovements to existing systems listed below, for example, as a resultof the fact that this system controls the broadcast and some due to thefact that various backhaul networks can be leveraged:

-   -   The geometry of satellite constellation system 100 results in        line of sights between satellites 110 that traverse through a        different portion of the atmosphere than a line of sight between        a LEO satellite and a MEO satellite    -   Faster motion on both the transmission and receiving sides means        an increase in atmospheric measurement frequency and geometric        diversity    -   Leveraging a combination of the links in FIG. 2 , the RO        measurements can be transmitted from the satellites to users        (Earth based and/or space based) in near real time    -   Sufficient density of available tomography can allow for the        creation of ionosphere and troposphere models derived for the        creation of GNSS corrections without a need for ground        infrastructure    -   The above allows for not only the creation of corrections for        GNSS satellites, but also for the precision satellite        constellation itself, improving robustness and convergence times        towards precision navigation

With high spatial density ground monitoring stations and/or a LEOmultifrequency satellite constellation, real-time, highly detailed mapsof the ionosphere can be produced for both scientific, government, andindustrial applications. Some applications include improved Earthweather prediction, GNSS corrections for improved stand-alonepositioning and positioning augmented with this satellite system,protection of satellite assets from space weather events, and others.This unique approach would combine measurements from satelliteconstellation system 100 to the ground and/or from existing GNSSsatellites to satellite constellation system 100. This allows foratmospheric model layer separation and finer granularity.

The RO tomography data generated through the RO measurements recorded bysatellite constellation system 100 can be used to generate a map of theionosphere and troposphere where appropriate navigation atmosphericcorrection messages are derivative products of this map. This data canbe used in traditional GNSS Precise Point Positioning (PPP) approachesin addition to the navigation schemes presented here. The reduces thesearch space in carrier phase ambiguity resolution and can greatlyaccelerate convergence time.

Alternatively or in addition to providing atmospheric data, thesatellite constellation system 100 can be implemented to provide precisenavigation by giving users their precise position and time. One of thekey elements to providing this information to users through a satellitebased ranging signal includes performing precise orbit determination, orotherwise being able to precisely determine the location of thesatellite in space. This information can then, along with a rangingsignal, be broadcast down to users on the ground to enable precisepositioning and/or timing. In addition to the complete solution,correction information can be provided to spatially “close” users, suchas users in orbits near those of our satellites, to allow those users toget precision positioning and timing data. This enables this satellitesystem to be able to provide precise positioning to users at altitudesbelow this satellite system and users at altitudes at close (above) tothis satellite system. The precision navigation section performed bysatellites 110 includes orbit determination, autonomous constellationalmonitoring, and/or adjusting of signal characteristics for providing thebest navigation signal.

Current methods for precision and high accuracy orbit determinationrequire the use of ground monitoring stations to observe the location ofsatellites with specialized measuring equipment and perform heavycomputation for determining orbits. Satellite constellation system 100improves existing systems by performing autonomous in-situ distributedorbit determination, where processing is done onboard satellites 110autonomously through edge computing. This significantly minimizesrequirements on ground infrastructure. Autonomous orbit and clockestimation onboard the satellite in real-time allows for lower costclocks as part of the satellite hardware. Temperature compensatedcrystal oscillators (TCXOs) and oven-controlled crystal oscillators(OCXOs) are lower cost than Chip Scale Atomic Clocks (CSACs) and othertimekeeping technology, but are most stable over shorter periods oftime. Real-time orbit determination and dissemination to the user makesthe use of these clocks possible, whereas if orbit determination is doneby the ground network, then longer periods between uploads would requirehigher performance clocks onboard.

Additionally, some embodiments of satellite processing system 300 usethe same clock 365 in both the GNSS receiver and/or other elements thathandle the analog to digital conversion of the signal and other elementswithin the receiver, and in the generation of the navigation signalcarrier frequency. This usage of the same clock 365 results in theestimated clock state using GNSS measurements reflecting the state ofthe clock used to generate the navigation signal itself, which resultsin a more precise navigation signal and navigation message. In otherembodiments, multiple clocks 365 may be present, where the clockgenerating the navigation signal carrier frequency is “disciplined” tothe clock in the GNSS receiver or the clock in the GNSS receiver is“disciplined” to the clock generating the navigation signal carrierfrequency.

The precise orbit determination, or the estimation of the satellite'sprecise state, which can contain information including, but not limitedto: position, velocity, acceleration, clock bias, clock drift, clockdrift rate, current time, attitude, attitude rates, carrier phaseoffsets, etc.), is performed on-board the satellite using a navigationfilter that uses measurements from on-board and/or offboard sensorsand/or correction data. This process is described below:

-   -   1. Raw data from a GNSS receiver, Inertial Measurement Unit        (IMU), attitude determination instruments, and/or radio signals        from neighboring satellites in this system are collected by        and/or are otherwise available to each satellite 110.        Measurements can also be ground based, where this data is        transmitted to the satellite via a data link.    -   2. The raw GNSS measurements are fed into a tightly coupled        navigation filter onboard the satellite 110. For example, the        navigation filter can be implemented by utilizing orbit        determination module 322. The filter uses GNSS orbit corrections        and/or other correction data such as atmospheric corrections        provided by any combination of the links in FIG. 2 to produce a        tightly-coupled PPP carrier phase ambiguity-resolved navigation        solution.    -   3. The navigation filter propagates the state estimate to the        current epoch    -   4. The navigation filter updates the position (of the satellite        center of mass), attitude, clock, and/or other state estimates        given the most recent measurements    -   5. The position, attitude, and/or clock estimates are, using one        or more models based on physics or other data driven models,        propagated forward for a short period to produce predictions of        the position of the broadcast antenna phase center.    -   6. This predicted path of the satellite orbit and clock (where        the clock is the same clock generating the carrier for the        navigation signal) are fit to a curve that will become the        broadcast navigation message. This curve fit is packaged into a        binary navigation message to be broadcast by the satellite to        the users.    -   7. The broadcast orbit and clock message can be broadcast by the        satellite 110 at regular intervals that meet the minimum time to        first fix.    -   8. If the orbit and clock states computed by the physics-based        propagation differ from the orbit and clock computed using the        navigation message, a new navigation message will enter the        broadcast queue, performing autonomous integrity monitoring    -   9. The broadcast signal is received by users and/or user devices        such as client devices 160, and the precise orbit data enables        the user and/or client device 160 to compute a precise position        and time solution.    -   10. The precise position and time solution can be displayed to        the user (for example as a pin on a map with some bounds on the        error that show that the user's position is very precise), for        example, by utilizing a display device of client device 160. In        the case of a robotic or autonomous or highly automated system,        this position solution can be ingested natively, for example, to        be used as a measurement for precision autonomy.

Each satellite 110 can perform process for the autonomous orbitdetermination via performance of a state estimation flow as illustratedin FIG. 5A, performance of a navigation flow as illustrated in 5B,and/or performance of a broadcast flow as illustrated in FIG. 5C. Theseseparate depictions of the state estimation flow, navigation flow, andbroadcast flow highlight the fact that process can be performed inseveral different loops triggered by different events. The satelliteprocessing system 300 can be utilized to perform some or all of thesteps illustrated in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and/or 5C, for example, by utilizingorbit determination module 322, navigation message generation module323, and/or message scheduling module 324, respectively.

FIG. 5A illustrates an embodiment of a state estimation loop. The loopis configured to run at a specific rate or triggered based on newmeasurements from the sensors onboard the satellite. Upon the trigger,the new measurement from the onboard sensors, which can include, but isnot limited to, inertial measurement units (IMUs), GNSS receivers,attitude sensors (e.g. star trackers, horizon sensor, etc), radio signalreceivers to signals from neighboring satellites in this satellitepositioning system, and other sensors, are used by the navigation filterto compute the precise state. Note that measurements can also be madefrom ground-based sensors and the data of the measurement can betransmitted to the satellite via any combinations of the links in FIG. 2. These sensor measurements can be used in conjunction with precise GNSSorbit and clock data estimated by the ground segment (PPP correctiondata) and/or other correction data (such as atmospheric models) desired.This correction data can be uploaded via any combinations of the linksin FIG. 2 and can be stored in memory onboard the satellite. The newlycomputed state can be saved to an onboard history vector of the currentand/or past states. Additionally, this newly computed state can becompared to the expected state at the current time based on the lastnavigation message. If the error metric exceeds a given threshold thenthe navigation loop is triggered to generate a new navigation message asdescribed in FIG. 5 b . A more detailed example of the comparison withthe expected state is depicted in FIG. 6 .

Typical ground-based orbit and clock determination for GNSS only usesthe signals received on the ground. Having the orbit and clockdetermination onboard, enables the satellite to make use of additionalsensors that help decouple the attitude from the orbit as well as theorbit from the clock. Decoupling the attitude is important as it enablesthe use of this orbit and clock determination system to be used on avariety of satellites including small satellites where only minimalattitude control may be available. For example, in a satelliteconfiguration where the broadcast signals are nadir pointing and thereceived GNSS L1/L2/L5 signals are received from a zenith antenna, anon-trivial offset will be present between these antennas which must beaccounted for in user precise positioning. Inertial sensors, which areessentially only affected by orbital effects and not clock effects, canbe integrated into the orbit determination and propagation process andhelp separate orbit and clock errors, especially as GNSS geometryworsens in polar regions.

The orbit determination can be aided by terrestrial stations, especiallyin polar regions, where not only would ground stations be typicallyvisible to the greatest number of satellites, but the GNSS geometry isweakest on orbit. The ground stations can broadcast another rangingsignal that can be received by satellites on orbit to aid in the orbitdetermination by providing more high accuracy range measurements. Thisallows for the measurements to very cleanly enter the estimator. Thisalso allows for the ground station to be broadcast-only (one-to-many)rather than talking directly to a specific satellite, keeping orbitdetermination autonomous without need for direct communication to theground station. The ground stations can also be capable of receiving theranging signal broadcast by this satellite system, allowing the groundstations to either do some estimation on the ground and send theestimate back to the satellite or more simply send the measurementscollected on the ground up to the satellites on orbit and let thesatellite use the measurements in their onboard estimators. The latencybetween the collection of the measurement on the ground and thereception of that on orbit may introduce some complications in theestimation. Ground stations can also be equipped with a laser to pointat a retroreflector on the satellite providing another accurate rangemeasurement to the satellite. Once again, this measurement can then beused on the ground and estimates can be sent to the satellite, or themeasurements can be directly sent to the satellites to be used in theonboard estimators.

The precise orbit determination computed onboard the satellites can usePrecise Point Positioning (PPP) correction data, which consists ofprecise orbit and clock estimates of GNSS satellites. PPP data can betransmitted from the ground to the satellites via any combination of thelinks depicted in FIG. 2 .

The navigation message creation is a second loop running onboard thesatellite that can be set to its own rate independent of the preciseorbit determination rate. The process flow for the navigation messagecreation is shown in FIG. 5B. This loop can be either triggered bytiming for a fixed frequency of operation or by a trigger based on acomputed error metric that is computed at the precise orbitdetermination rate. One manifestation is that the navigation message isgenerated by computing a best fit curve on the expected future statecomputed by running the filter's prediction step. Such a best fit curvehas a set of parameters (e.g. that define the orbit and clock state)that can be put into a binary message to be sent as part of thenavigation message.

The broadcast flow of FIG. 5C can be once again running at anindependent rate, this time specified by the desired data rate for datato be transmitted on the ranging signal, handles the transmission of thenavigation message, along with any other data messages that are desired.This transmission system reads a queue of messages and modulates thedata contained in the messages onto the navigation signal (which in someembodiments has a ranging signal already modulated onto the carrier),which can be at various different frequencies. Note that in some casesonly the ranging is modulated on the carrier to make the navigationsignal.

Once modulated, that signal is transmitted from the satellite 110 andcan be received by at least one client device 160 which can include, butis not limited to, devices on the ground (such as handheld devices,vehicles, etc.), devices in the air (such as planes, drones, etc.),devices in space, and/or other embodiments of client device 160discussed herein. Client device 160 can compute a range to eachsatellite 110 in view with the ranging signal and, given the precisenavigation message data, is able to compute a precise position.

In various embodiments, the orbit determination process onboard of eachof the satellites 110 allows the satellites to monitor their ownmessages and/or those of the neighboring satellites. Satellites 110 canbe operable to perform a self-monitoring process. In particular, atevery time step that the navigation filter updates the precise state ofthe satellite, satellite processing system 300 can compare the newlycomputed precise state with the expected state as described in the mostrecent navigation message.

FIG. 6 demonstrates an example of this self-monitoring process. For thisexample, the rate of the estimation loop and the navigation messagegeneration are such that a new navigation message is generated,nominally, every 10 measurement updates. Starting at time t₀, thenavigation filter has computed a precise state, shown as a circle attime step t₀ on the figure, and a navigation message, N1, is generatedas described in conjunction with FIG. 5B. Using the navigation messagedata, the expected state for all time steps in the time window betweento and t₁₀ is shown as a line, which corresponds to expected state 610.Note that the line, and therefore the message can be valid for a longertime period than the time period for the next triggered navigationmessage update. Moving forward in time, FIG. 6 shows the estimatedstates at time steps t₁, t₂, and t₃. At each one of these time steps, acomparison is computed between the estimated state and the expectedstate as given by navigation message N1. In this example, none of thesecomparisons compare unfavorably, so the system behaves nominally.

At the end of the time window at time t₁₀, the time-based triggerresults in a new navigation message, N2, being generated as depicted inFIG. 5B. This new navigation message is now what is being transmitted atregular intervals over, for example, the navigation signal. The newexpected state through time is once again shown as a curve, in this caseexpected state 620. A new time window is set between times t₁₀ and t₂₀.

Moving forward through time to time step t₁₆, the difference between theestimated state (shown as a circle) and the expected state as computedusing navigation message N2, exceeds a given threshold, resulting in atrigger of the generation of a new navigation message, N3. This newmessage has a new curve for future expected states, in this caseexpected state 630.

As time continues to move forward to the end of the new time window atstep t₂₀, the generation of a new navigation message, N4, is triggeredby the nominal time based trigger behavior. This new message has a newcurve for future expected states, in this case expected state 640. Othervariations are possible, for example, a new time window can be setbetween times t₁₆ and t₂₆ upon the transmission of navigation messageN3. In the absence of deviation from the expected state 630 during thistime window, the next navigation message (N4) could then be sent at stept₂₆ when this updated time window expires.

Alternatively and/or additionally to performing this self-monitoring,satellites 110 can be configured to perform neighborhood monitoring,where satellites 110 are operable to monitor some or all physicallyneighboring satellites in constellation. Through an ability to transmitand/or receive navigation signals, a consistency check based on in-situmeasurements can be used to identify upsets on any one particularsatellite or group of satellites to quickly resolve any issues andmaintain integrity of the system. Each satellite 110 can be equipped totransmit and/or receive navigation signal 240 and the correspondingnavigation message data through any link depicted in FIG. 2 to and/orfrom its neighbors both within its orbital plane, and/or in neighboringorbital planes, as depicted in the configuration in FIGS. 7A and 7B.

FIG. 7A illustrates a two-dimensional depiction of a subset of theplurality of satellites 110, including satellite A and satellite B. Thissubset can constitute a “neighborhood” with respect to satellite A,where all satellites 110 are in view of satellite A and/or wheresatellite A can otherwise transmit and/or receive navigation signal 240from its neighboring satellites. These neighboring satellites ofsatellite A can include satellites 110 on the same orbital plane 710 assatellite A, and can include one or more satellites on either side ofsatellite A along orbital plane 710. These neighboring satellites ofsatellite A can alternatively or additionally include satellites 110 ondifferent orbital planes 700 and 720. As illustrated in thethree-dimensional depiction of orbital planes 700, 710, and 720 withrespect to earth of FIG. 7B, orbital planes 700 and 720 can beneighboring orbital planes of orbital plane 710. Some or all of theother satellites 110, such as satellite B, can have their ownneighborhood of neighboring satellites, which can include a propersubset of the satellites 110 in the neighborhood of satellite A and/orcan include at least satellite A.

In this example embodiment, navigation signal 240 contains both theranging signal and data containing at least the navigation message data.However, in other embodiments, navigation signal 240 can contain onlythe ranging signal with each satellite either already knowing thenavigation message data for its neighboring satellites and/or receivingthe navigation message data through any combination of the linksdepicted in FIG. 2 .

In the example embodiment depicted in FIG. 7A, the neighboringsatellites (e.g satellite B) to satellite A can compute the expectedrange measurement to satellite A as each satellite knows its ownestimated state and can compute the expected state of satellite A usingthe corresponding navigation message data for satellite A. Satellite Bcan also computed the measured range using navigation signal 240 fromsatellite A. From these two ranges, an error metric can be computed(e.g. a range residual). If that error metric exceeds a given thresholdthen satellite B can send a message, through any combination of thelinks in FIG. 2 , to satellite A notifying satellite A that it may bebroadcasting incorrect navigation message data. This notification can bein the form of a status message that can send a flag, the error metricdata, and/or any data that can be used by Satellite A as a notificationof possible error or other anomalies. If satellite A receive messagesfrom more than a threshold number or percentage of neighboringsatellites, satellite A can update its status information in thenavigation message to notify users (including the neighboringsatellites) that its navigation message data should not be trusted andtherefore that the satellite should not be used. In addition tonotifying satellite A, the neighboring satellites can also send errorinformation that satellite A can use to verify and update its stateestimate to correct for errors in the estimator, provided that each ofthe neighboring satellites are performing nominally.

FIGS. 7C depict a further example case with a neighborhood of satelliteson orbital planes 700, 710, and 720 of FIG. 7B. If Satellite A computesan error metric that exceeds a given threshold value to a number ofneighboring satellites above a threshold number or percentage, it caneither self-detect that it may have an error in its state estimate,and/or the neighboring satellites can alert Satellite A that Satellite Amay have a problem. Satellite A can notify each of the neighbors thatthey may be wrong (e.g. Satellites B and C) in response to computing theerror metric that exceeds a given threshold for these neighboringsatellites. If the neighbors (e.g. Satellites B and C) have not receivedenough warning messages to put it over a threshold number or percentage,they can each respond to Satellite A indicating Satellite A may be thesatellite in the neighborhood with an error.

Satellites 110, as part of satellite constellation system 100, can alsoadjust signal parameters, for example as described previously, for thepurpose of improving the performance of the reception and/or use ofnavigation signal 240 by users in space and/or users on Earth. Triggerconditions for adjusting signal parameters (such as beamwidth, powerlevels, and/or other signal characteristics of interest) can include thefollowing, alternatively or in addition to the trigger conditionsdiscussed in previous sections:

-   -   Determining the location of satellite 110 above the Earth is,        for example, over a major city or otherwise compares favorably        to a location range for a trigger condition. As a result,        satellite 110 can narrowing the beamwidth and/or increasing the        signal power to aid in increasing the received signal strength        of navigation signal 240.    -   Determining proximity and/or density of one or more satellites        110 in orbit (such as over the polar regions if the satellite        orbits are polar orbits) that result in a very high density of        transmissions of navigation signal 240. As a result, some or all        satellites 110 can autonomously decide to turn off        transmissions, for example based on remaining battery capacity        and/or power margins left in satellites 110.    -   Determining other location based and/or monitoring based        triggers that are deemed to affect the quality of navigation        signal 240 received by users.

The setting of these parameters can be adjusted autonomously bysatellites 110 by utilizing satellite processing system 300 based oninformation received from neighboring satellites and/or groundmeasurements, adjusted by a ground segment with a human in the loopand/or autonomously based on monitoring data of satellite constellationsystem 100, and/or can be configured before launch of the satellite andfixed for a given satellite 110 and given orbit.

In various embodiments, forces on the satellite can be calculated basedon satellite orientation and precise measurements, which can be utilizedto build an atmospheric density model. Many LEO satellites at loweraltitudes feel forces due to atmospheric drag. While the upperatmosphere is very thin, it still provides an appreciable amount offorce that eventually leads to the de-orbit of these satellites unlesspreventative measures are taken. While existing rough models can be usedfor the density of air in the upper atmosphere, it is known that thisdensity is not temporally or spatially constant. Satellite constellationsystem 100 can be capable of taking precise GNSS measurements, asdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 5A-5C, and thus can have preciselyknown positions and velocities. Satellite 110 can also know itsorientation (pose) precisely and can therefore calculate the expectedforces due to solar and/or albedo radiation pressure, among other forcesacting on the satellite. Once all other large orbital perturbations aretaken into account, this information can be processed on board thesatellite and/or on the ground and used to determine the magnitude ofthe atmospheric drag force acting on a given satellite 110. Once thisdrag force is calculated, the density of the atmosphere at thesespecific satellite 110 positions can be calculated. With a denseconstellation of satellite 110 and this data from each satellite 110,models of the upper atmospheric density can be generated by eitherinterpolating values spatially and/or temporally, or through othermeans. The resulting atmospheric density models can be used to help withon-orbit trajectory prediction for satellite 110 and/or any othersatellite in similar orbits that are capable of receiving theatmospheric density model data. Additionally, these models can form thefoundation for creating forecasts of upper atmosphere density.

In various embodiments, certain users can be become nodes transmittingnavigation signals to expand the network of satellite constellationsystem 100, giving rise to substantially more navigation signals and animproved service. These additional nodes can be implemented utilizinghardware and/or software of any of the client devices 160 discussedherein, for example, equipped with its own satellite processing system300 and/or operable to perform some or all of the functionality of asatellite 110 as discussed herein. These additional nodes can be static,for example, fastened to infrastructure and/or otherwise installed in aparticular constant and/or known location. These additional nodes canalternatively be mobile, for example, corresponding to a mobile deviceand/or vehicle with a changing location.

Similar to how orbit determination is performed in this navigationconstellation scheme with satellites in low Earth orbit to deliver anadditional navigation signal on the ground, all other aerial and groundreceivers can employ the same precise positioning scheme and can in turntransmit similar navigation signals to create a much larger and morecomprehensive navigation network. Each additional receiver works as anode in a more substantial network of navigation signals, aiding both incollaborative positioning and in current GNSS-challenged environment.

Employing similar estimation processes as satellites 110 from satelliteconstellation system 100, user devices or other devoted ground or aerialnavigation nodes can create and/or transmit their own navigationsignals. This gives rise to substantially more signals for more robustpositioning in traditionally challenging GNSS environments. In oneembodiment, these navigation signals can be nearly identical to thosetransmitted by satellites as part of satellite constellation system 100.In other implementations, different schema maybe be considered forspecific applications or use cases. This may include the usage ofdifferent electromagnetic spectrum or other transmission modalitiesincluding but not limited to, optical and/or ultrasonic. This can alsoinclude a different number of transmission frequencies or signalmodulations.

As an example, consider a dense urban environment with several aerialand ground-based robotic systems in operation. Aerial systems flyingabove buildings can utilize the line of sight signals to a combinationof GNSS satellite and satellite constellation system 100 satellitenavigation signals for precise and secure positioning. With its positionsolution computed, this aerial platform can broadcast its own navigationmessage, in much the same way as the satellites in satelliteconstellation system 100. This, along with aerial and other navigationnodes in the network, including potentially as stationaryinfrastructure, adds significant diversity in line of sight in urbancanyons, substantially aiding ground vehicle navigation. For example,the top corners of certain tall buildings can be good candidates forinfrastructure node locations, having a clear line of sight to the skyand the road below. To further aid in this problem, ground vehicles canbroadcast their own navigation signals to improve collaborativelocalization at the street level where now relative range measurementshelp the multi-agent navigation system.

In various embodiments, the satellite constellation system 100 canprovide secure data to its users. Current GNSS signals that areavailable for civilian use are broadcast unencrypted with known signaland data structures. This was pivotal in the global adoption of GNSS asthe standard bearer for positioning, but as the number of those thatdepend on GNSS services has grown, the vulnerabilities of GNSS havebecome more apparent. GNSS being at such low power is often jammedunintentionally and since its signal structure is publicly available itis subject to malicious spoofing attacks.

The satellite constellation system 100 improves upon traditional GNSSservices by performing full encryption of the spreading code along withthe navigation data. In this case, there can be several channels thatoffer different data at different rates. This is accomplished using acombination of code shift keying along with encrypted data modulated ata lower rate. Where appropriate, the data is encoded using a Low DensityParity Check scheme that allows for forward error correction, enablingthe satellites to deliver data to ground users at a high, robust datarate.

The encryption keys can be locally stored in memory of client devices160, for example, in some manifestation of tamper-resistant hardwarewithin the receiver utilized by some or all client devices 160 toreceive navigation signals 240 from satellites 110. Each client device'skey can be leaf that belongs to a layered Merkle-Damgard tree, givingthis satellite constellation system 100 the ability to provide serviceto any number of client devices 160 while denying service to anyone whobreaks the terms of service. These keys can be changed collectively atpredetermined intervals that allow for a subscription plan alongsidepermanent users. These changeovers can be carried out using secureone-way functions.

There can be several acquisition methods for the encrypted signal. Anyclient devices 160 with preexisting knowledge of their location and timewithin reason can carry out direct acquisition of the signal using aparallel search strategy. All other client devices 160 can directlyacquire these signals as the required computational resources areavailable to them. Once a single satellite from the constellation hasbeen acquired, a coarse almanac is recovered that allows the user tofind any other satellites that may also be in view along whileanticipating the satellites that will soon be in view.

With a single satellite in view, a client device 160 in a known locationcan have secure knowledge of their time. Likewise, any users that know 3out of 4 position domain parameters (latitude, longitude, height,clock-bias) can to securely determine the fourth with this satellitesystem. In a secure time example, a receiver is surveyed and has a knownlatitude, longitude, and height. In order to provide a secure timingservice, the receiver need only acquire a single satellite signal. Thepseudo range calculated from the user to the satellite can subtracted bythe predicted range to the satellite knowing the surveyed receiverlocation. The clock bias can be calculated from this difference. Sincethe signals and data are encrypted, the user can trust that the signalcame from a trusted satellite in this constellation and thus the clockbias calculation can be trusted. With four satellites in view, anunambiguously secure position and time solution can be solved for usingthese satellite signals.

Application data corresponding to a secure service of the satelliteconstellation system 100 can be stored in at least one memory of theclient device 160. For example, the application data can be received bythe client device 160 for download from a server system associated withthe satellite constellation system 100 via network 250 and/or can bereceived in a signal transmitted by a satellite 110. When thisapplication data, and/or other executable instructions stored in memoryof the client device 160, are executed by at least one processor of theclient device 160, this can cause the client device 160 to securelyobtain and/or update their key, to utilize their key to securelydetermine their position and/or time based on encrypted signals receivedfrom satellites 110, and/or to utilize their key to confirm authenticityof received signals as being transmitted by received from satellites 110as opposed to a spoofing entity.

In various embodiments, the satellite constellation system 100 can beoperable to perform space-based GNSS Constellation Monitoring. A GNSSsatellite fault can produce serious positioning errors if incorporatedinto a calculated position. In order for GNSS signals to be incorporatedin safety-critical applications, such as aviation, their performancemust be constantly monitored for such fault events. Many receivers usedin these applications incorporate autonomous monitoring techniques suchas Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) to detect and excludesignals that may be faulty, but autonomous integrity techniques forreceivers using code-phase positioning have severe limitations in thatthey cannot easily observe some satellite faults. These techniques maybe enough to ensure that the true position is within one-third of a milefrom the calculated position, but in order to obtain tighter bounds,also known as protection levels, on true position, local or wide areamonitoring techniques must be employed. Satellite monitoring can beaccomplished through systems known as Satellite Based AugmentationSystems (SBAS). In existing systems, reference stations in a region ofinterest can use these measurements to estimate the different errorsources that may be present. These error estimates are then passed tocentral processing facilities where they are then then broadcast tousers via a satellite link from a geostationary satellite. These systemsare able to detect satellite faults and broadcast alerts to users, forexample, within 6 seconds of the beginning of such faults.

Similar GNSS satellite fault monitoring can be carried out by satellite110 in LEO when satellite 110 is using carrier phase precise positioningtechniques, such as described in conjunction with FIGS. 5A-5C.Autonomous integrity monitoring techniques can be utilized to achieveprecise protection levels, for example, by calculating positionsolutions using subsets of GNSS satellites running in parallel. Forinstance, if there are N satellites in view, there are N+1 positionsolutions calculated for the case that one GNSS satellite is excluded.These solutions are compared with each other in order to deriveprotection levels for the calculated position. If a single GNSSsatellite is faulted, all N+1 solutions will begin to deviate from thetrue position except for the subset solution that has excluded that GNSSsatellite. If the solutions become separated by an amount set by athreshold, then it can be determined that there is a fault in the GNSSsignal emanating from the GNSS satellite. By computing these subsets andcomparing the solutions to a given threshold, satellite 110 can knowthat a GNSS satellite was producing a faulty measurement if thesolutions separated by more than the given threshold and can thentransmit alert information for the faulted GNSS satellite.

A single satellite 110 in LEO can use the above method to detect afaulty GNSS measurement. Satellite constellation system 100 can havemultiple satellites 110 in view of the same faulted GNSS satellite.Because of this, there will be larger observability of such a GNSSsatellite fault and this will allow all satellite 110 observing thefaulted GNSS satellite to form a consensus and thus have higherconfidence in a decision to alert users. This technique differs fromexisting services in that all current GNSS satellite health monitoringis carried out by terrestrial reference stations whereas this provides asatellite-based solution that carries out this task autonomously.Satellite constellation system 100 can also be capable of transmittingalerts via navigation messages or other alert data to users in the eventthat there is an observed GNSS satellite fault through any combinationof links in FIG. 2 .

Beyond GNSS faults, satellite constellation system 100 can also transmitparameters describing the performance of the GNSS satellites. Satelliteconstellation system 100 can provide multiple simultaneous preciseobservations of the GNSS satellites using the methods outlined above.These observations can then be compiled and transmitted as correctionsand confidence parameters to be used by GNSS receivers.

By utilizing satellites 110 in this fashion to detect GNSS faults and/orto determine parameters describing the performance of the GNSSsatellites for transmission, GNSS systems can be monitored entirely inspace. This presents an improvement to existing systems by facilitatingthis GNSS monitoring without any dependence on ground-based referencestations or ground based central processing facilities. Existing systemsare further improved due to the better geometry, higher signal strength,and greater number of satellites more satellites in view as a result ofutilizing the satellites 110 rather than ground-based facilities.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C illustrate the service levels available to groundand/or aerial users as a function of the number of satellites 110 inview from satellite constellation system 100. FIG. 8A shows the scenariowith one satellite 110 in view with a client device 160 corresponding toa mobile user such as a vehicle. When used in conjunction with GNSSsatellites, satellite 110 can provide data to increase the precision ofGNSS. Satellite 110 further adds a navigation signal to provideadditional range and range rate information. The rapid geometry changeassociated with satellite 110 allows for fast initialization of precisepositioning. Hence, this augments GNSS, improving precision. FIG. 8Bshows the case for a client device 160 corresponding to a static userwith one satellite 110 in view. In this case, because the position ofstatic user is known, satellite 110 provides a secure source of timinginformation when the navigation signal is provided with encryption,which can used without GNSS.

FIG. 8C shows the scenario where satellite constellation system 100 hassufficient satellites such that four or more satellites 110 are in viewto the client device 160, such as the automobile represented. In thisscenario, a sufficient number of independent navigation signals 240 fromsatellite constellation system 100 are available such that a highlyprecise can be supported by exclusive use of navigation signals 240,and/or such that highly secure position solution with full encryptioncan be supported when navigation signals are provided with encryption.

The various functionality of the satellite constellation system 100discussed can be utilized to implement one or more other applications.For example, satellite constellation system 100 can be utilized bymaritime systems, where one or more client devices 160 is onboard and/orotherwise corresponds to one or more boats or other maritime systems.Satellite constellation system 100 can provide precision positioning tomaritime systems, which can be utilized by the maritime systems formapping, ice navigation, ice routing, and port operation. The preciseposition information can further be shared with neighboring maritimesystems to improve maritime situational awareness. This can greatlyimprove the safety of these systems (e.g. in bad weather) due to themuch better precision (especially in the arctic where signals 132 areharder to receive) if that information is shared between differentships, or between static maritime elements (e.g. lighthouses) and ships.Authentication and/or encryption can be utilized to protect against GNSSspoofing. Position security provided satellite constellation system 100by can be utilized by maritime systems for asset tracking, for example,to be utilized by autonomous or highly automated ships that operatewithout a crew onboard. Boats and/or other maritime systems can thus beimplemented as client devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized by banking systems or other entities to perform transactionauthentication. Location-based security can be provided for entitiesthat perform financial transactions and/or other transactions. Forexample, position security can be used as a form of two stepauthentication in banking and other password-protected criticalfunctions. This can also be utilized by voting systems to provideprotection against voter fraud in elections. ATM machines, votingmachines, and/or other equipment utilized to perform secure transactionscan be implemented as client devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized to enable infrastructure time synchronization. Satelliteconstellation system 100 can provides an additional source of securetiming to infrastructure systems that provide timing. Client devices 160across different infrastructure entities can be utilized to synchronizetiming across power stations, data centers, telecommunications hubs,cellular towers, financial institutions and/or other criticalinfrastructure.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized as a source for timing traceability for financial transactions.Satellite constellation system 100 can provide an additional source fortiming traceability required for proof-of-payment systems andapplications that require accurate and reliable timing traceability. Forexample, transactions on the New York Stock Exchange require timingtraceability for legal purposes. Timing for these transactions istypically traced through GPS measurements to national timing centerslike those managed at the USNO. Measurements taken from a client device160 using the satellite constellation 100 can aid or replace thesemethods of timing traceability.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in supply chain management to provide secure tracking ofindividual shipping containers, packages, vehicle assets, and/or vesselassets, allowing management with finer granularity and/or confirmationof arrival at destination. The individual shipping containers, packages,vehicle assets, and/or vessel assets can be implemented as clientdevices 160 and/or can be coupled to client devices 160 to enable thesecure tracking of these assets by an entity that owns these assets orotherwise oversees the transportation and/or delivery of and/or by theseassets.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in surveying and/or mapping. In particular, satelliteconstellation system 100 can be utilized to provide precision,integrity, and/or security while enabling high definition mapping forautonomous or highly automated applications and/or safety criticalapplications. Surveying and/or mapping equipment can be implemented asclient devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized by autonomous or highly automated road vehicles. Autonomous orhighly automated road vehicles require high integrity (safety-critical),precise, and secure positioning, as provided by the satelliteconstellation system 100. Autonomous or highly automated road vehiclescan be implemented as client devices 160, and satellite constellationsystem 100 can enable geofencing, lane determination, and vehiclecontrol of the autonomous or highly automated road vehicles.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized by autonomous or highly automated mobile robotic platforms. Thesatellite constellation system 100 can provide location precision and/orsecurity for mobile robotic platforms targeted at the movement/deliveryof goods within small areas, shipping yards, or cities, where theautonomous or highly automated mobile robotic platforms are implementedas client devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized by autonomous or highly automated aerial vehicles, urban airmobility vehicles, drones, and/or UAVs. Autonomous or highly automatedaerial vehicles require high integrity (safety-critical), precise, andsecure positioning, as provided by the satellite constellation system100. Autonomous or highly automated road vehicles can thus beimplemented as client devices 160. The satellite constellation system100 can enabled services such as autonomous or highly automatednavigation and management of the airspace, and/or full automatedtakeoff, taxi, and landing.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in asset tracking and/or Fleet Tracking. This can include thetracking of assets such UAVs, truck and vehicle fleets, as well as bike,scooter, and/or other ‘last mile’ device services. These assets can thusbe implemented as client devices 160. Precision and security is requiredfor utilization of these services, for example to unlock a bike at agiven depot and/or to return the user's deposit upon return of theasset.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized by transportation services. In ride sharing scenarios, thesatellite constellation system 100 provides both precision and security.Precision is needed to aid in passenger-vehicle pairing where,especially in a robo-taxi environment, precise navigation is required tocorrectly determine the vehicle in question. Furthermore, locationsecurity prevents drivers from spoofing rides or misleading customersand similarly prevents riders from misleading drivers (or robo-taxis) interms of pick up location. Thus, these vehicles can be implemented asclient devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in robotic Agriculture. The agricultural industry pioneeredprecise GNSS corrections for machine control and it is still the primarysensor for localization in featureless environments, e.g. an open field.Currently, tractors require a driver, but as they become more autonomousor highly automated, a driver may no longer be present and security inpositioning will be critical. Other robotic platforms in agriculture mayinclude UAVs, mobile robotic platforms with wheels, legs, tracks, and/orarticulated manipulator arms. Thus, some or all of this agriculturalequipment can be implemented as client devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in the Internet of Things (IoT) and/or ‘Big Data’ Security. AsIoT devices become more prevalent, tying data to the world in ageospatial sense, the criticality of this data will increase. Even ifstationary, as a periodic security check, devices of an IoT network cancheck its location, perhaps even indoors, to verify the installationlocation has not been tampered with, inadvertently or otherwise. Thus,IoT devices can be implemented as client devices 160.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in insurance entities. For example, as autonomous or highlyautomated system interaction increases, who is responsible for what willbecome more important, and secure geolocation will be critical inresolution.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in environmental monitoring, as discussed herein. Through radiooccultation data, improved spatial and temporal resolution ofatmospheric maps can be built for improving scientific models as well asweather prediction models.

Alternatively or in addition, satellite constellation system 100 can beutilized in various space applications, as illustrated in FIGS. 8D and8E. Client device 160 can be implemented by space-based devices, such asspace user 800 and space user 810. Users in orbit at altitudes bothhigher (Space User 810) and lower (Space User 800) than the satelliteconstellation system 100 can utilize satellite constellation system 100,either in conjunction with GNSS or independently as shown by FIG. 8D andFIG. 8E, to obtain a secure and/or precision location for use in orbitdetermination. The beamwidth of navigation signal 240 can be designedand/or adjusted to be an omni-directional signal to enable users higherthan satellite constellation system 100 and/or multiple antennas onboardsatellite 110 can support transmitting navigation signal 240 with a moredirectional beamwidth pointed in various directions.

FIG. 8F presents another scenario with one satellite 110 in view with aclient device 160 corresponding to a mobile client device such as avehicle. When used in conjunction with GNSS satellites of constellation120, satellite 110 can provide data to increase the precision of GNSSsignaling 132. As previously discussed, satellite 110 further adds anavigation signal 240 to provide additional range and range rateinformation. The rapid geometry change associated with satellite 110allows for fast initialization of precise positioning.

In this example, however, additional navigation signals 240′ arereceived from a ground station 160-1 such as a terrestrial navigationstation, an aircraft, such as UAV 160-2, and one or more other vehicles160-3. In various embodiments, the navigation signals 240′ are formattedsimilarly to the navigation signal 240 and further augment GNSSaccuracy, improving precision in the position, navigation and timing ofthe mobile device 160. Furthermore, the presence of many vehicles 160-3in close proximity, each of which is determining its position on aprecision basis provides the vehicles the opportunity to operate in amesh navigation network to share their positions and collectivelyenhance the accuracy of position, navigation and/or timing as a group.Furthermore, sharing of the navigation messages 240′ in such a meshnetwork configuration can be used to identify, model the signalcharacteristics of, and track, a mobile jammer in proximity to theclient devices 160-1, 160-2 and 160-3. In various embodiments, theclient devices 160-1, 160-2 and/or 160-3 respond to stored userpreferences that indicate, for example, whether or not a user of thecorresponding device opts-in or opts-out of the generation of its ownnavigation messages 240′.

As further illustrated, a time-transfer satellite 850 is provided thattransmits a secure timing signal 852, such as an encrypted signal orother secure signal that provides a ground truth timing reference. Thetime-transfer satellite 850 can be implemented via a special satellitededicated to the purpose. Consider a spoofing scenario where one or morespoofing stations capture and repeat valid signals 132 and/or 140. Thesecure timing signal 852 can be used by the client device 160 to detectthe spoofing stations by determining that the timing in the signals 132and/or 140 repeated by these stations varies from the ground truthtiming of the secure timing signal 852 by more than some acceptabletiming threshold.

In a further example, the time-transfer satellite 850 can be implementedvia one or more other satellites 110 that has been dedicated to thispurpose via command and control signaling sent via inter-satellite links230. The role of time-transfer satellite 850 can be assigned to any ofthe satellites 110, based on the memory usage of the satellite; thememory usage other satellites; the distance between the satellite and abackhaul receiver; the battery level of the satellite; a differencebetween the battery level of the satellite and the battery level othersatellites; an estimated time that the satellite can generate morepower; an estimated time that other satellites can generate more power;atmospheric data that indicates atmospheric conditions; and/or otherstate of the particular satellite, particularly when compared to thestate or states of the other satellites 110.

Consider another example where integrity monitoring of the LEOconstellation 100 determines that one or more particular satellites 110are no longer capable of generating accurate orbital positioning. Therole of these particular satellites 110 can be relegated to the reducedfunctionality of providing the secure timing signal 852.

FIG. 9A is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example clientdevice in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, a mobiledevice 900 is presented that includes a global positioning receiver 904having an antenna 902, a processing system 920 having a memory 930 andone or more processors 940 and further having additional mobile devicecomponents and applications 925 that round out the specificfunctionality of the mobile device. For example, the mobile device 900can be an automobile, a tablet, a smartphone, a smartwatch, a laptopcomputer, another mobile computer or computer system, a navigationdevice, a device location system, a weather system, a marine navigationsystem, a rail navigation system, an aircraft, an agricultural vehicles,a surveying system, an autonomous or highly automated vehicle, a UAV orother mobile device that operates by generating timing, navigationand/or positioning.

In various embodiments, the global positioning receiver 904 includes anRF section configured to receive signals 132 in one or more frequencychannels from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites 130of a GNSS constellation 120 and to downconvert these signals to GNSSsignals 912, each having a ranging signal containing clock informationand ephemeris information for each of the GNSS satellites 130 in range.Similarly, the RF section is configured to receive one or morenavigation signals 240 in one or more frequency channels from satellites110 of constellation 100 and to downconvert these signals to LEO signals910, each having a ranging signal containing a navigation message thatincludes clock information and ephemeris information for each of thesatellites 110 in range. In addition, the navigation message can containcorrection data associated with the GNSS satellites 130, such as PPPcorrection messages, other clock and orbital correction data,constellation integrity information relating to the health of one ormore satellites 110 and/or constellation integrity information relatingto the health of one or more satellites GNSS satellite 130. Furthermore,the LEO signals 910 can contain other data contained in the navigationsignals 240 including, for example, command and control data, RO data,atmospheric or weather data, secure clock data, encryption and securityinformation, and/or any of the other types of data produced ortransmitted by the satellites 110 as discussed herein.

The processing system 920 is configured to generate enhanced positionand timing data 922 based on the GNSS signals 912 and/or the LEO signals910 for use by the mobile device components and applications 925 thatuse such information, for example, for precision position, navigationand timing. In addition, the other data 924 can be demodulated, orotherwise extracted, from the LEO signals 910 by the processing system920 that includes, for example, command and control data, RO data,atmospheric or weather data including a current weather state, a weathermap and/or a predictive weather model, secure clock data, encryption andsecurity information, any of the other types of data produced ortransmitted by the satellites 110 or can be generated by the processingsystem 920 based on the navigation signals 240 and/or the signals 132.In various embodiments, the constellation integrity information is usedby the processing system 920 to exclude or otherwise ignore signals 132and/or navigation signals 240 that corresponding to satellites that havebeen identified as faulty.

The operations of the processing system 920 can further include, forexample, locking-in on the timing of the ranging signals via theassociated pseudo random noise (PRN) codes associated with eachsatellite 110 and 130 (that is not excluded), demodulating and decodingthe ranging signals from the GNSS signals 912 to generate and extractthe associated navigation messages from the GNSS satellites 130 in rangeof the receiver, demodulating and decoding navigation messages containedin the ranging signals of the LEO signals 910 to extract the preciseposition and timing data associated with each satellite 110 along withthe correction data for the GNSS signals 912, and applying thecorrection data and atmospheric data to the position and timinginformation from the navigation messages from the GNSS satellites 130.In various embodiments, the first-order ionospheric delay is mitigatedusing the combinations of dual-frequency GNSS measurements. Otherwise,ionospheric and tropospheric delay can be corrected using atmosphericmodels generated based on the RO data. Furthermore, the processingsystem 920 can use closed loop state estimation techniques such as aKalman filter, extended Kalman filter or other estimation techniquewhere, for example orbital position, clock error, ionospheric delay,tropospheric delay and/or carrier-phase errors are estimated states. Theprecise position of the generate enhanced position and timing data 922can be generated by positioning calculations that employ navigationequations to the orbital positions and timing for each of the satellites110 and 130.

It should be noted, that when encryption is employed to the navigationsignals 240, decryption can be employed by the global positioningreceiver 904 and or the processing system 920 in order to securely lockon to the ranging signal and/ further to extract the data therefrom.

Consider the following example. The global positioning receiver 904receives navigation signals 240 that includes a navigation message fromat least one satellite 110 containing correction data associated with anon-LEO constellation of satellites, such as non-LEO satellites 130. Theglobal positioning receiver 904 also receives signals 132 from thenon-LEO satellites 130. One or more processors 940 is configured toexecute operational instructions that cause the processor(s) to performoperations that include: applying the correction data to the signals 132to generate corrected signaling; and generating enhanced position datacorresponding to a position of the mobile device based on the navigationmessage and the corrected signaling. In this fashion, PPP correctionmessages, other clock and orbital correction data, constellationintegrity information relating to the health of one or more satellites110 and/or constellation integrity information relating to the health ofone or more satellites GNSS satellite 130 can be used be used togenerate more precise position, navigation and timing from the signals132 received from satellites of the non-LEO constellation and furtherbased on the timing signal and the orbital position associated with thesatellite 110.

Consider a further example. The global positioning receiver 904 receivesnavigation signals 240 that include navigation messages from four ormore satellites 110. One or more processors 940 is configured to executeoperational instructions that cause the processor(s) to performoperations that include: generating enhanced position data correspondingto a position of the mobile device based on the navigation messages. Inthis fashion, navigation messages that may include constellationintegrity information relating to the health of one or more satellites110 can be used be used to generate more precise position, navigationand timing based on the timing signals and the orbital positionsassociated with the satellites 110.

FIG. 9B is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example clientdevice in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, anothermobile device 900 is presented that includes many common elements ofpresented in conjunction with FIG. 9A that are referred to by commonreference numerals. In this example, however, an additional navigationsignal 240′ is received from a ground station 160-1 such as aterrestrial GPS station or other ground station that provides a sourceof a navigation signal 240′. The navigation signal 240′ reside in one ofthe frequency channels of navigation signal 240. Other frequencychannels can likewise be employed to avoid interference with navigationsignals 240 and/or signals 132.

In various embodiments, the navigation signal 240′ is formattedsimilarly to the navigation signal 240 and the GPS receiver generateground station (GS) signals 914 that can include any or all of theinformation contained in the LEO signals 910. The processing system 920is configured to generate enhanced position and timing data 922 based onthe GNSS signals 912, GS signals 914 and/or the LEO signals 910 for useby the mobile device components and applications 925 that use suchinformation, for example, for precision position, navigation and timing.In addition, the other data contained in the navigation signals 240and/or 240′ is processed by the processing system 920 to generate otherdata 924 that includes, for example, command and control data, RO data,atmospheric or weather data, secure clock data, encryption and securityinformation, any of the other types of data produced or transmitted bythe satellites 110 or can be generated by the processing system 920based on the navigation signals 240, 240′ and/or the signals 132. Inthis fashion, the ground station 160-1 operates as an additionalsatellite with a fixed, and therefore, precise location.

As discussed in conjunction with FIG. 8F the navigation signals 240′ canbe generated by mobile client devices 160. Furthermore, the mobiledevice 900 can include a global positioning transmitter 944 thatoperates similar to the corresponding functionality of satellite 110 ingenerating its own navigation signal 240′ that is transmitted viaantenna 942. In various embodiments, the memory 930 includes stored userpreferences that indicate, for example, whether or not a user of themobile device 900 opts-in or opts-out of the generation of its ownnavigation messages 240′.

FIG. 9C is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method inaccordance with various embodiments. In particular, a method ispresented for use with one or more of the other functions and featuresdiscussed herein. Step 950 includes receiving a navigation message fromat least one low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite of a constellation of LEOnavigation satellites in LEO around the earth, wherein the navigationmessage includes correction data associated with the constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth. Step 952includes receiving first signaling from a plurality of non-LEOnavigation satellites of a constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites in non-LEO around the earth. Step 954 includes applying thecorrection data to the first signaling to generate corrected firstsignaling. Step 956 generating an enhanced position of the mobile devicebased on the navigation message and the corrected first signaling.

FIG. 9D is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method inaccordance with various embodiments. In particular, a method ispresented for use with one or more of the other functions and featuresdiscussed herein. Step 960 includes receiving a navigation message fromat least one low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite of a constellation of LEOnavigation satellites in LEO around the earth, wherein the navigationmessage includes correction data associated with the constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth. Step 962includes receiving first signaling from a plurality of non-LEOnavigation satellites of a constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites in non-LEO around the earth. Step 964 includes receivingsecond signaling from at least one terrestrial GPS station at a fixedlocation. Step 966 includes applying the correction data to the firstsignaling to generated corrected first signaling. Step 968 includesgenerating an enhanced position of the mobile device based on thecorrected first signaling, the second signaling and the navigationmessage.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example embodiment of a flowchart illustrating anexample of performing self-monitoring. In particular, a method ispresented for use in association with one or more functions and featuresdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-8E, for execution by a satelliteprocessing system 300 that includes a processor or via anotherprocessing system of satellite constellation system 100 that includes atleast one processor and memory that stores instructions that configurethe processor or processors to perform some or all of the stepsdescribed below.

Step 1002 includes receiving a first plurality of measurement data viaat least one sensor onboard the satellite and/or at least one signalreceived via a receiver onboard the satellite. For example, the at leastone sensor can include an IMU and/or a clock. The at least one signalcan be include a GNSS signal received from a GNSS satellite, and/or caninclude a signal generated by another satellite processing system 300.The at least one signal can include PPP corrections received over abackhaul data link. Some or all of the first plurality of measurementscan be stored in memory of the satellite processing system for later useas historical measurements.

Step 1004 includes calculating first current state data for thesatellite at a first current time based on the first plurality ofmeasurement data and/or based on historical measurements retrieved fromthe memory. The current state data can indicate a position of thesatellite, an attitude of the satellite, and/or the first current time.Step 1006 includes generating first curve fit parameter data based onthe first current state data. The curve fit parameter data can indicatesa plurality of state estimates for a plurality of consecutive futuretimes within a time window. For example, the time window can bepredefined, and can start at the current time and/or can start at a timeshortly after the current time. Steps 1002, 1004, and/or 1006 can beperformed as discussed in conjunction with the state estimator flowillustrated in FIG. 5A.

Step 1008 includes generating a first navigation message that includesthe first curve fit parameter data. The first navigation message can begenerated in accordance with some or all of the steps illustrated in thenavigation message generation flow illustrated in FIG. 5B. Step 1010includes scheduling the first navigation message for broadcast by atransmitter onboard the satellite during a predetermined portion of thetime window. For example, the first navigation message can be scheduledto be transmitted repeatedly multiple times within the predeterminedportion of the time window. The predetermined portion of the time windowcan be a proper subset of the time window and/or can include the entiretime window. The predetermined portion of the time window can correspondto a first temporal portion of the time window, for example, beginningwith the current time and/or the first one of the plurality of futuretimes, and lasting for a predefined duration. In some embodiments, thepredefined duration and/or the frequency at which the first navigationmessage is scheduled to be repeatedly transmitted can correspond toand/or based on a predetermined minimum time to first fix. The firstnavigation message can be scheduled and/or transmitted by thetransmitter in accordance with some or all of the steps illustrated inthe broadcast flow illustrated in FIG. 5C.

Step 1012 includes receiving a second plurality of measurement data viathe same or at least one sensor onboard the satellite and/or the atleast one signal received via the receiver onboard the satellite. Step1014 includes calculating second current state data for the satellite ata second current time based on the first plurality of measurement data,wherein the current state data indicates a position of the satellite, anattitude of the satellite, and/or the second current time. The secondcurrent time can be after the first current time, and the second currenttime can correspond to one of the plurality of consecutive future timeswithin the time window. Step 1016 includes generate an error metric bycomparing the second current state estimate to the one of the pluralityof state estimates indicated in the curve fit parameter data for the oneof the plurality of consecutive future times, for example, asillustrated in the state estimation flow of FIG. 5A.

In response to determining the error metric compares unfavorably to anerror threshold, the method can include steps 1018-1024, for example asillustrated in the state estimation flow of FIG. 5A. Step 1018 includesgenerating second curve fit parameter data based on the second currentstate data, wherein the curve fit parameter data indicates a pluralityof state estimates for a plurality of consecutive future times within atime window. Step 1020 includes generating a second navigation messagethat includes the second curve fit parameter data. Step 1022 includesinterrupting the scheduling of the broadcast of the first navigationmessage at a time before the elapsing of the predetermined portion ofthe time window, and step 1024 includes scheduling the second navigationmessage for broadcast by the transmitter of the satellite starting atthe time and/or starting shortly after the time. For example, the nextscheduled transmission of the first navigation message can be replacedby a transmission of the second navigation message, once the secondnavigation message is generated.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example embodiment of a flowchart illustrating anexample of performing neighborhood-monitoring. In particular, a methodis presented for use in association with one or more functions andfeatures described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-10 , for execution by asatellite processing system 300 that includes a processor or via anotherprocessing system of satellite constellation system 100 that includes atleast one processor and memory that stores instructions that configurethe processor or processors to perform the some or all of the stepsdescribed below.

Step 1102 includes receiving a first plurality of measurement data atleast one sensor onboard the satellite and/or or at least one GNSSsignal received via a GNSS receiver onboard the first satellite. Step1104 includes calculating first state data for the first satellite basedon the first plurality of measurement data, wherein the first state dataindicates a position of the first satellite. Step 1106 includesgenerating a first navigation message that indicates the first statedata. Step 1108 includes transmitting the first navigation message to aplurality of neighboring satellites, wherein the first navigationmessage is transmitted in conjunction with a first ranging signal.

Step 1110 includes receiving, via a receiver onboard the firstsatellite, a plurality of ranging signals and a plurality of navigationmessages from the plurality of neighboring satellites. Each of theplurality of navigation messages can indicates state data for acorresponding one of the plurality of neighboring satellites, where eachstate data was calculated by the corresponding one of the plurality ofneighboring satellites. Step 1112 includes calculating an expected rangevalue for each of the plurality of neighboring satellites by comparingthe position of the first satellite to a position of the each of theplurality of neighboring satellites indicated in the state data of theone of the plurality of navigation messages received from the each ofthe plurality of neighboring satellites. Step 1114 includes calculatinga measured range value for each of the plurality of neighboringsatellites based on the one of the plurality of ranging signals receivedfrom the each of the plurality of neighboring satellites. Step 1116includes calculating a range error by comparing the expected range valuefor each of the plurality of neighboring satellites to the measuredrange value for the each of the plurality of neighboring satellites.

Step 1118 includes identifying at least one of the plurality ofneighboring satellites with a range error that compares unfavorably to arange error threshold. Step 1120 includes transmit, via a transmitteronboard the first satellite, a range error notification to the at leastone of the plurality of neighboring satellites indicating that the rangeerror compares unfavorably to the range error threshold. Step 1122includes receiving, via the receiver onboard the first satellite, astatus notification from the at least one of the plurality ofneighboring satellites indicating an unfavorable status, wherein the atleast one of the plurality of satellites generated the statusnotification indicating the unfavorable status in response to receivingthe range error notification transmitted by the first satellite.

Some or all of the plurality of neighboring satellites can each includetheir own satellite processing system 300, and some or all of theplurality of the plurality of neighboring satellites can be operable tosimilarly perform some or all of these steps of FIG. 10 .

In various embodiments, the method further includes receiving a secondplurality of measurement data via the at least one of: the at least onesensor onboard the first satellite or the at least one GNSS signalreceived via the GNSS receiver onboard the first satellite, for exampleat a different time. The method further includes calculating secondstate data for the first satellite on the second plurality ofmeasurement data, where the second state data indicates a secondposition of the first satellite, for example, at the different time. Themethod further includes generating a second navigation message thatindicates the second state data. The method further includestransmitting the second navigation message to the plurality ofneighboring satellites in conjunction with a second ranging signal. Themethod further includes receiving, via the receiver onboard the firstsatellite, a range error notification from a subset of the plurality ofneighboring satellites. The range error notification was transmitted byeach of the plurality of neighboring satellites in the same fashion asillustrated in FIG. 11 , in response to the each of the subset of theplurality of neighboring satellites determining a second range errorcompares unfavorably to the range error threshold. In particular, theeach of the subset of the plurality of neighboring satellites calculatedthe second range error for the first satellite by comparing a secondexpected range value for the first satellite to a measured range valuefor the first satellite. Each of the subset of the plurality ofneighboring satellites calculated the second measured range value forthe first satellite based on the second ranging signal received from thefirst satellite, and the each of the subset of the plurality ofneighboring satellites calculate the second expected range value for thefirst satellite by comparing the second position of the first satelliteto its current position. Each of the subset of the plurality ofneighboring satellites calculate its current position based onmeasurement data it collected.

In various embodiments, the method further includes determining a statusof the first satellite is unfavorable in response to determining aproportion of the plurality of neighboring satellites included in thesubset of the plurality of neighboring satellites compares unfavorablyto a maximum threshold proportion. The method can further includetransmitting, via the transmitter onboard the satellite, a statusnotification indicating an unfavorable status of the satellite to theplurality of neighboring satellites. For example, the maximum thresholdproportion can dictate that at least a predefined number and/orproportion of satellites must have sent range error notifications to thefirst satellite for the first satellite to determine that its status isunfavorable. If less than the maximum threshold proportion of satellitessend the range error notification to the first satellite, the firstsatellite can determine its status is favorable. In some embodiments,the range error notification can be generated by the neighboringsatellites to include the value of the calculated range error, and thefirst satellite determining whether or not the status is unfavorable asa function of the number of satellites from which the calculated rangeerror as well as the value of the range error in each notification. Forexample, fewer number of satellites may be required to have send rangeerror notifications if these range error notifications indicate highrange errors, while a higher number of satellites may be required tohave send range error notifications if these range error notificationsindicate smaller range errors.

In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a status ofeach of the subset of the plurality of neighboring satellites isunfavorable in response to determining a proportion of the plurality ofneighboring satellites included in the subset of the plurality ofneighboring satellites compares unfavorably to a minimum thresholdproportion. The method can further include transmitting, via thetransmitter onboard the satellite, a notification indicating theunfavorable status of the to the subset of the plurality of neighboringsatellites to the subset of the plurality of neighboring satellites. Theminimum threshold proportion can be the same as, can be lower than,and/or substantially or lower than the maximum threshold proportion. Forexample, the minimum threshold proportion can dictate that less than apredefined number and/or proportion of satellites must have sent rangeerror notifications to the first satellite for the first satellite todetermine that their statuses are unfavorable. If more than the minimumthreshold proportion of satellites send the range error notification tothe first satellite, the first satellite can determine their statusesare favorable and/or cannot conclude that their statuses areunfavorable. In some embodiments, a neighboring satellite is onlydetermined to be unfavorable if they were the only satellite of theplurality of neighboring satellites that sent the range errornotification.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of a flowchart illustrating anexample of performing orbit determination. In particular, a method ispresented for use in association with one or more functions and featuresdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-11 , for execution by a satelliteprocessing system 300 that includes a processor or via anotherprocessing system of satellite constellation system 100 that includes atleast one processor and memory that stores instructions that configurethe processor or processors to perform some or all of the stepsdescribed below.

Step 1204 includes receiving a plurality of measurement data via atleast one receiver onboard the satellite, where the plurality of othermeasurement data includes global navigation satellite data (GNSS) datareceived from a GNSS satellite and/or includes precise point positioning(PPP) correction data received from a space-based backhaul. A clocksignal, for example, generated by a clock onboard the satellite 110, canbe utilized by a GNSS receiver onboard the satellite to receive a GNSSsignal from the GNSS satellite, and/or this clock signal can be utilizedby an analog to digital converter onboard the satellite 110 to generatethe GNSS data from the GNSS signal received by the GNSS receiver.

Step 1206 includes calculating a clock state for the satellite based onthe GNSS data, and/or the PPP correction data, where the clock stateincludes a clock bias, a clock drift, and/or a clock drift rate. Step1208 includes generating a navigation message that indicates the clockstate data. Step 1210 includes generating a broadcast carrier signalusing a clock signal. This clock signal can be the same clock signaland/or can be disciplined to the clock signal utilized in step 1204. Forexample, this clock signal can be the same as the clock signal used byGNSS receiver to receive the GNSS signal from the GNSS satellite, can bediscipled to the clock signal used by GNSS receiver to receive the GNSSsignal from the GNSS satellite, can be the same as the clock signal thatis utilized by the analog to digital converter onboard the satellite 110to generate the GNSS data from the GNSS signal received by the GNSSreceiver, and/or can be disciplined to the clock signal that is utilizedby the analog to digital converter onboard the satellite 110 to generatethe GNSS data from the GNSS signal received by the GNSS receiver.

Step 1212 includes generating a navigation signal for broadcast bymodulating the spreading code onto the broadcast carrier signal. Step1214 includes adding additional data to the navigation signal forbroadcast by modulating the navigation message onto the broadcastcarrier signal. Step 1216 includes facilitating broadcast of thenavigation signal via a transmitter onboard the satellite.

FIG. 13A is an illustration of various satellite constellations andantenna beamwidth adjustments in accordance with various embodiments. Invarious embodiments, the beamwidth of navigation signal 240 produced bythe satellite 110 can be adjusted from a wider bandwidth with a lowergain over a wider area to a more directional beamwidth having a highergain over a smaller area. For example, the navigation signal transmitter330 discussed in conjunction with FIG. 3B can be equipped with aphased-array antenna system that allows the beam to be controlled insuch a fashion under control of the resource allocation module 325.

As previously discussed, the beamwidth of the navigation signal 240 canbe adjusted along with other signal parameters of the satellite 110 toadapt to various conditions of the satellite 110. In addition or in thealternative, the beamwidth of navigation signal 240 can be adjusted toadapt to the status of the satellite constellation system 100. Forexample, when more satellites are present in the constellation,satellite coverage can be maintained with reduced beamwidth.

The examples 1300, 1302 and 1304 present, respectively, states of thesatellite constellation system 100 with 3, 6 and 12 orbital paths/planesand an increasing numbers of satellites per path/plane. While polarorbits are shown, other orbital configurations are likewise possible. Instate 1300 of the satellite constellation system 100, a greaterbeamwidth θ1 is used to cover more area. In state 1302 of the satelliteconstellation system 100, a reduced beamwidth θ2 can be used due to thedecreased spacing between individual satellites. In state 1304 of thesatellite constellation system 100, a further reduced beamwidth θ3 canbe used due to the further decreased spacing between individualsatellites.

It should also be noted that the orbital position of each satellite 110can be also be used to adjust the beamwidth from a widest coverage, ator near the equator, to a narrowest coverage at or near the north andsouth poles. Gravitational dynamics caused by the non-spherical shape ofthe earth can change distances between satellites. Coverage changescaused by such changes in satellite distance can be compensated, all orin part, by changes in antenna beamwidth. It should be noted that areduced beamwidth and corresponding higher antenna gain can enableeither a greater link budget for a constant transmit power or a lowertransmit power and power consumption for a fixed link budget.

FIG. 13B is an illustration of various antenna beam steering adjustmentsin accordance with various embodiments. As previously discussed, theresource allocation module 325 of the satellite 110 can control thevarious operations of the satellite 110 based on the orbital position ofthe satellite 110 relative to positions above the earth corresponding tohigh population density, low population density, an ocean, a rainforest,a mountain range, a desert or other terrestrial condition or feature. Inthe example shown, the satellite 110 proceeds from T1 to T2 to T3 alongan orbital path 1322 in LEO above an area of high population density1320 when compared with the population density of the surround areasalong the orbital path 1322. Such areas of high population density caninclude a corresponding high density of autonomous or highly automatedvehicles and/or other client devices that may heavily rely upon highprecision position, navigation and timing and/or that provide challengesto signal reception due to tall buildings and other infrastructureand/or other terrestrial features.

The processing system of the satellite 110 stores a map or other datastructure of the orbital path 1322 that indicates the position of thearea of high population density 1320 along the orbital path 1322. Thebeam steering direction 1325 corresponds, for example, to the center ofthe main transmission lobe of the antenna beam pattern of the navigationsignal transmitter 330. As shown, the beam steering direction 1325 isadjusted as the satellite 110 proceeds from T1 to T2 to T3 along anorbital path 1322 to point at the area of high population density 1320.The effect of this beamsteering adjustment is to increase the signalstrength of the navigations signals transmitted by the satellite 110 inthe area of the of high population density 1320, facilitating betterreception and improved positioning, navigation and timing of clientdevices 130 within this area.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of GPS reflectometry in accordance withvarious embodiments. While the foregoing has discussed the use ofsatellite to satellite signals used for radio occultation, satellitesignals transmitted by one satellite and reflected by the surface of theearth can be received by one or more other satellites. In the examplesshown, a satellite 110-1 receives signals 132 from satellite 130 thatreflect off the surface of the earth. In other configurations, satellite110-2 receives navigation signal 240 from satellite 110-2 that reflectoff the surface of the earth. The strength of the received signal,together with factors such as the orbital position of both the transmitand receive satellites, the transmit power, the transmit and receivebeamwidth, and a current atmospheric model can be used to determine andmap the current reflectivity of different regions of the globe. Such GPSreflectometry can be used, for example, to create maps of current seasurface conditions, rainforest tree canopy density, snowfall, cropconditions, soil water density and/or other environmental conditionsaround the globe.

It is noted that terminologies as may be used herein such as bit stream,stream, signal sequence, etc. (or their equivalents) have been usedinterchangeably to describe digital information whose contentcorresponds to any of a number of desired types (e.g., data, video,speech, text, graphics, audio, etc. any of which may generally bereferred to as ‘data’).

As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately”provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding termand/or relativity between items. For some industries, anindustry-accepted tolerance is less than one percent and, for otherindustries, the industry-accepted tolerance is 10 percent or more.Industry-accepted tolerances correspond to, but are not limited to,component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperaturevariations, rise and fall times, thermal noise, dimensions, signalingerrors, dropped packets, temperatures, pressures, material compositions,and/or performance metrics. Within an industry, tolerance variances ofaccepted tolerances may be more or less than a percentage level (e.g.,dimension tolerance of less than +/−1%).

As may also be used herein, the term(s) “configured to”, “operablycoupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct couplingbetween items and/or indirect coupling between items via an interveningitem (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, anelement, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for an example of indirectcoupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of asignal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or powerlevel. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where oneelement is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct andindirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”.

As may even further be used herein, the term “configured to”, “operableto”, “coupled to”, or “operably coupled to” indicates that an itemincludes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., toperform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and mayfurther include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As maystill further be used herein, the term “associated with”, includesdirect and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item beingembedded within another item.

As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that acomparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desiredrelationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may beachieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1. As maybe used herein, the term “compares unfavorably”, indicates that acomparison between two or more items, signals, etc., fails to providethe desired relationship.

As may be used herein, one or more claims may include, in a specificform of this generic form, the phrase “at least one of a, b, and c” orof this generic form “at least one of a, b, or c”, with more or lesselements than “a”, “b”, and “c”. In either phrasing, the phrases are tobe interpreted identically. In particular, “at least one of a, b, and c”is equivalent to “at least one of a, b, or c” and shall mean a, b,and/or c. As an example, it means: “a” only, “b” only, “c” only, “a” and“b”, “a” and “c”, “b” and “c”, and/or “a”, “b”, and “c”.

As may also be used herein, the terms “processing system”, “processingmodule”, “processing circuit”, “processor”, and/or “processing unit” maybe a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Sucha processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, fieldprogrammable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logiccircuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device thatmanipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of thecircuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module,module, processing circuit, processing system, and/or processing unitmay be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated memory element,which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices,and/or embedded circuitry of another processing module, module,processing circuit, processing system, and/or processing unit. Such amemory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatilememory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flashmemory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information.Note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit,processing system, and/or processing unit includes more than oneprocessing device, the processing devices may be centrally located(e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless busstructure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing viaindirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network).Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit,processing system, and/or processing unit implements one or more of itsfunctions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry,and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing thecorresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, orexternal to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analogcircuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further notethat, the memory element may store, and the processing module, module,processing circuit, processing system, and/or processing unit executes,hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at leastsome of the steps and/or functions illustrated in one or more of theFigures. Such a memory device or memory element can be included in anarticle of manufacture.

One or more embodiments have been described above with the aid of methodsteps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claims. Further, the boundariesof these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined forconvenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined aslong as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed.Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily definedherein to illustrate certain significant functionality.

To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence couldhave been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significantfunctionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional buildingblocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scopeand spirit of the claims. One of average skill in the art will alsorecognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrativeblocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustratedor by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits,processors executing appropriate software and the like or anycombination thereof.

In addition, a flow diagram may include a “start” and/or “continue”indication. The “start” and “continue” indications reflect that thesteps presented can optionally be incorporated in or otherwise used inconjunction with other routines. In this context, “start” indicates thebeginning of the first step presented and may be preceded by otheractivities not specifically shown. Further, the “continue” indicationreflects that the steps presented may be performed multiple times and/ormay be succeeded by other activities not specifically shown. Further,while a flow diagram indicates a particular ordering of steps, otherorderings are likewise possible provided that the principles ofcausality are maintained.

The one or more embodiments are used herein to illustrate one or moreaspects, one or more features, one or more concepts, and/or one or moreexamples. A physical embodiment of an apparatus, an article ofmanufacture, a machine, and/or of a process may include one or more ofthe aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with referenceto one or more of the embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figureto figure, the embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly namedfunctions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or differentreference numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. maybe the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or differentones.

Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/orbetween elements in a figure of any of the figures presented herein maybe analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and single-endedor differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as asingle-ended path, it also represents a differential signal path.Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it alsorepresents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particulararchitectures are described herein, other architectures can likewise beimplemented that use one or more data buses not expressly shown, directconnectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between otherelements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.

The term “module” is used in the description of one or more of theembodiments. A module implements one or more functions via a device suchas a processor or other processing device or other hardware that mayinclude or operate in association with a memory that stores operationalinstructions. A module may operate independently and/or in conjunctionwith software and/or firmware. As also used herein, a module may containone or more sub-modules, each of which may be one or more modules.

As may further be used herein, a non-transitory computer readable memoryincludes one or more memory elements. A memory element may be a separatememory device, multiple memory devices, or a set of memory locationswithin a memory device. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory,random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, staticmemory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any devicethat stores digital information. The memory device may be in a form asolid-state memory, a hard drive memory, cloud memory, thumb drive,server memory, computing device memory, and/or other physical medium forstoring digital information.

While particular combinations of various functions and features of theone or more embodiments have been expressly described herein, othercombinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. Thepresent disclosure is not limited by the particular examples disclosedherein and expressly incorporates these other combinations.

What is claimed is:
 1. A low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite of aconstellation of LEO navigation satellites in LEO around the earth, theLEO satellite comprising: a global positioning receiver configured toreceive first signaling from a first plurality of non-LEO navigationsatellites of a constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites innon-LEO, wherein the first plurality of non-LEO navigation satellitesinclude four or more non-LEO navigation satellites of the constellationof non-LEO navigation satellites that are in reception range of theglobal positioning receiver; a backhaul transceiver configured toreceive precise point positioning (PPP) correction data associated withthe constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites, wherein the PPPcorrection data includes orbital correction data and timing correctiondata associated with the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites,and wherein the PPP correction data is received separately from thefirst signaling; an inter-satellite transceiver configured to send andreceive inter-satellite communications with other LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of LEO navigation satellites; at leastone processor configured to execute operational instructions that causethe at least one processor to perform operations that include:determining an orbital position of the LEO satellite based on applyingthe PPP correction data to the first signaling; and generating anavigation message based on the orbital position, wherein the navigationmessage includes a timing signal and the orbital position associatedwith the LEO satellite and the navigation message further includes theorbital correction data and the timing correction data associated withthe constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites; and a navigationsignal transmitter configured to broadcast the navigation message to atleast one client device, the navigation message facilitating the atleast one client device to determine an enhanced position of the atleast one client device based on the navigation message.
 2. The LEOsatellite of claim 1, further comprising: a non-atomic clock configuredto generate a clock signal; wherein the timing signal is generated byadjusting the clock signal based on the first signaling.
 3. The LEOsatellite of claim 1, wherein the inter-satellite communications includeone-to-many transmissions between the LEO satellite and two or more ofthe other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites.
 4. The LEO satellite of claim 1, wherein theconstellation of non-LEO navigation satellites are associated with atleast one of: a Global Positioning System of satellites, a Quasi-ZenithSatellite System, a BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a Galileopositioning system, a Russian Global Navigation Satellite System(GLONASS) or an Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
 5. The LEOsatellite of claim 1, wherein the inter-satellite communications includeat least one of: the navigation message sent to at least one of theother LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEO navigationsatellites; radio occultation; atmospheric data generated based on radiooccultation; control information associated with satellite direction;control information associated with satellite attitude; controlinformation associated with satellite status; control informationassociated with satellite inter-satellite transmit/receive condition;command information associated with satellite inter-satellitetransmit/receive status; command information associated withinter-satellite transmit power or frequency; control informationassociated with encryption; constellation integrity information relatingto the health of one or more LEO navigation satellites in theconstellation of LEO navigation satellites; or constellation integrityinformation relating to health of one or more non-LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.
 6. Alow-earth orbit (LEO) satellite of a constellation of LEO navigationsatellites in LEO around the earth, the LEO satellite comprising: aglobal positioning receiver configured to receive first signaling from afirst plurality of non-LEO navigation satellites of a constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites in non-LEO around the earth; aninter-satellite transceiver configured to send and receiveinter-satellite communications with other LEO navigation satellites inthe constellation of LEO navigation satellites; at least one processorconfigured to execute operational instructions that cause the at leastone processor to perform operations that include: determining an orbitalposition of the LEO satellite based on applying precise pointpositioning (PPP) correction data to the first signaling, wherein thePPP correction data is received separately from the first signaling; andgenerating a navigation message based on the orbital position; and anavigation signal transmitter configured to broadcast the navigationmessage to at least one client device, the navigation messagefacilitating the at least one client device to determine an enhancedposition of the at least one client device based on the navigationmessage.
 7. The LEO satellite of claim 6, further comprising: a backhaultransceiver configured to receive the PPP correction data associatedwith the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.
 8. The LEOsatellite of claim 7, wherein the backhaul transceiver is configured toreceive the PPP correction data from one of: a backhaul communicationsatellite in geostationary orbit around the earth or a terrestrialtransmitter.
 9. The LEO satellite of claim 7, wherein the operationsinclude: generating radio occultation data based on the inter-satellitecommunications with at least one of the other LEO navigation satellitesin the constellation of LEO navigation satellites; and transmitting theradio occultation data via the backhaul transceiver.
 10. The LEOsatellite of claim 6, wherein the PPP correction data includes orbitalcorrection data and timing correction data associated with theconstellation of non-LEO navigation satellites.
 11. The LEO satellite ofclaim 10, wherein the navigation message includes a timing signal andthe orbital position associated with the LEO satellite and thenavigation message further includes the orbital correction data and thetiming correction data associated with the constellation of non-LEOnavigation satellites.
 12. The LEO satellite of claim 11, furthercomprising: a non-atomic clock configured to generate a clock signal;wherein the timing signal is generated by adjusting the clock signalbased on the first signaling.
 13. The LEO satellite of claim 12, whereinthe timing signal is generated further based on the timing correctiondata.
 14. The LEO satellite of claim 6, wherein the constellation ofnon-LEO navigation satellites are associated with at least one of: aGlobal Positioning System of satellites, a Quasi-Zenith SatelliteSystem, a BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a Galileo positioningsystem, a Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) or anIndian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
 15. The LEO satellite ofclaim 6, wherein the navigation message includes the PPP correction dataassociated with the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites innon-LEO around the earth.
 16. The LEO satellite of claim 6, wherein thenavigation message further includes a timing signal and the orbitalposition associated with the LEO satellite and wherein the at least oneclient device determines the enhanced position of the at least oneclient device further based on the timing signal and the orbitalposition associated with the LEO satellite.
 17. The LEO satellite ofclaim 6, wherein the inter-satellite communications include the PPPcorrection data associated with the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites received via at least one of the other LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of LEO navigation satellites.
 18. TheLEO satellite of claim 6, wherein the inter-satellite communicationsinclude at least one of: the navigation message sent to at least one ofthe other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites; radio occultation; atmospheric data generatedbased on radio occultation; control information associated withsatellite direction; control information associated with satelliteattitude; control information associated with satellite status; controlinformation associated with satellite inter-satellite transmit/receivecondition; command information associated with satellite inter-satellitetransmit/receive status; command information associated withinter-satellite transmit power or frequency; control informationassociated with encryption; constellation integrity information relatingto the health of one or more LEO navigation satellites in theconstellation of LEO navigation satellites; or constellation integrityinformation relating to health of one or more non-LEO navigationsatellites in the constellation of non-LEO navigation satellites. 19.The LEO satellite of claim 6, wherein the inter-satellite communicationsinclude one-to-many transmissions between the LEO satellite and two ormore of the other LEO navigation satellites in the constellation of LEOnavigation satellites.
 20. The LEO satellite of claim 6, wherein thefirst plurality of non-LEO navigation satellites include four or morenon-LEO navigation satellites of the constellation of non-LEO navigationsatellites that are in reception range of the global positioningreceiver.